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THE EMPRESS EUGENIE, 



Vv9)^eXJttM , trVvvJl>^ OJJfT^^ 



Court Life of the 
Second French Empire 

1853-1870 



ITS ORGANIZATION, CHIEF PERSONAGES, 
SPLENDOUR, FRIVOLITY, AND DOWNFALL 



BY 

LE PETIT HOMME ROUGE 



"Du coin d'ou le soir je ne bouge 
J'ai vu le Petit Homme Rouge . . 
Sa voix rauque en chantant presage 
Au Chiteau grand remii-ra^nage. " 

Beranger 



WITH A FRONTISPIECE 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS 
1908 






Bequest 

Albert Adsit Olemona 

Aug. 24, 1938 

(Not available lo:' exchange) - 



r'/i' 



PREFACE 

Nearly every royal palace of any antiquity has its ghost. 
Hampton Court has three — those of Katherine Howard, Jane 
Seymour, and Mrs. Penn (nurse of Edward VI.). The old Schloss 
of Berlin is haunted by the White Lady, Agnes of Orlamiinde, 
who was buried alive in its vaults, and whose appearance always 
forebodes death to some member of the Prussian Royal House. 
Further, a spectral Capuchin, connected perhaps with the 
monastery where the Hapsburgs have so long been buried, 
is said to flit at times along the corridors of the Imperial 
Hofburg at Vienna. In France the Palace of the Tuileries 
was likewise haunted by a familiar spirit. The Little 
Red Man, who, although he mostly remained unseen and 
unheard while he prowled through the splendid chambers, 
considerately revealed his presence every now and again in 
order to foretell some great change or disaster. Occasionally, 
when there was nobody of any consequence at the Tuileries, the 
Little Red Man went roving. He followed the ruler of the 
time to other palaces and places. He once journeyed as far as 
Egypt to advise General Bonaparte to return to France. He 
also visited the cliffs of Boulogne to foretell the failure of the 
projected invasion of England ; and, again, in the last years of 
the First Empire, he showed himself both at Fontainebleau and 
at Waterloo. Madame Lenormand, the so-called Sibyl of the 
early years of the nineteenth century, who is said to have 
predicted to Josephine Beauharnais that she would some day 
be Empress of the French, wrote an imaginative book on the 



vi PREFACE 

subject of the Little Red Man, in which she blundered sadly 
by asserting that he was the " good genius " of Napoleon, 
whereas he was at the most merely his "candid friend."" 
Beranger, whom the Red Man favoured with a visit about 
the time when the restored French Monarchy was collapsing, 
was better inspired when he composed a ballad warning King 
Charles X. of impending calamity. 

The years passed, and still the Little Red Man haunted the 
Tuileries, seeing and hearing many strange things as he flitted, 
invisible, from room to room, as well as giving due notice, by 
occasional appearances, of some startling changes of regime. 
He saw the Orleans Monarchy collapse, the ensuing Republic 
expire, the Second Empire swept away by foreign invasion 
and national wrath. But, at last, the day came when the 
Tuileries itself perished, annihilated by incendiaries. Of course 
the Little Red Man had known what would happen, and had 
already decided to transfer his quarters to the Ely see Palace, 
which is still his address for national business purposes. But 
during the last five-and-thirty years he has led a less active life 
than formerly. True, he found it necessary to warn Marshal 
MacMahon that he would have to give in or go out, and 
President Grevy that no good would come of a certain great 
decorations scandal. He had to appear, too, at the time when 
Le brave General Boulanger threatened the Republic; he paid 
a flying visit to Lyons when President Carnot was unhappily 
assassinated ; and at the critical period of the great Dreyfus 
case, he gave a private warning to President Faure, who was 
shocked to such a degree by so unexpected an apparition that 
he was seized with a fit which unfortunately proved fatal. 

Of more recent times the Little Red Man has enjoyed plenty 
of leisure. He is occasionally inclined to think that his 
occupation, like Othello''s, may be gone, that his warnings may 
never again be required. To occupy the time which hangs 
somewhat heavily on his hands he meditates on the past ; 
he recalls, somewhat regretfully, his snug old home at the 



PREFACE vii 

Tuileries, and it is not surprising, perhaps, that it should 
have occurred to him to pen a record of the last years which he 
spent there — the chequered years of the Second Empire. The 
Little Red Man does not claim to have witnessed personally 
everything which then occurred (he was never ubiquitous), 
but during his years of leisure he has cultivated a taste for 
reading, and, naturally enough, he has peeped into virtually 
everything that has been written about his old surroundings. 
He has come upon no little absurdity, no small crop of errors, 
garnered by outsiders, but he has also noted many interesting 
facts emanating from Court gentlemen and ladies whom 
he well remembers, though, as he himself usually remained 
invisible, they were not aware of his presence beside them. 
Briefly, piecing together his own personal recollections and 
those of the more reliable men and women of the time, and 
adding thereto a number of little-known facts and documents, 
and sketches of the notable people whom he once knew, he has 
written a book on the Tuileries Court as it was during the last 
years of his residence at the Palace. He has described the 
Courfs organization, manners, and customs ; he has endeavoured 
to depict both its magnificence and its darker side; he has 
dealt, neither too harshly nor too indulgently, he hopes, with 
its frivolities ; he has not forgotten to include some account of 
its sojourns at such places as Compiegne, Fontainebleau, and 
St. Cloud; and he has made a few excursions into the realm 
of politics in order that certain incidents may be the better 
understood. He here offers the result of his labours to the 
courteous critic and the indulgent reader; and as on most 
occasions his appearance in propria persona is, unfortunately, 
a foreboding of trouble, he sincerely trusts that he will never 
have reason to visit them otherwise than in this present guise 
of print and paper. 

Paris, 1907. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER ^^^^ 

I. INTRODUCTORY ... ... ••• ••• ••• ^ 

II. MEN OP THE COUP D'eTAT — THE NEW COURT ... 23 

III. THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE— THE EMPRESS AND HER HOUSE- 

HOLD ... ... ... ••• ••• ••• ^^ 

IV. QUEEN VICTORIA IN PARIS— BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 77 

V. CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE— A CRIMINAL CENT- 
GARDE ... ... ••• ••• ••• ••' ^^^ 

VI. THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET ... ... ^29 

VII. THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OP HER LIFE ... ... 158 

VIII. THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS ... ... 178 

IX. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY ... ..., ... ••• 209 

X. BANQUETS, BALLS, AND OTHER COURT FESTIVITIES— THE 

GREAT YEAR 1867 ... ... ... -. 245 

XI. THE GRACES OP THE EMPIRE — SOME STATESMEN AND 

DIPLOMATISTS ... ... ••• ••• ••• 275 

XII. THE IMPERIAL STABLES— FEMININE FASHIONS— SOME FEA- 
TURES OF PARIS LIFE ... ... ... ■'• 300 

XIII. THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT— THE EMPEROR'S ILLNESS 

— CHALONS— THE MARSHALS— THE HUNT ... ... .327 

XIV. THE IMPERIAL PRINCE— LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE— WAR 

AND REVOLUTION — FATE OF THE TUILERIES ... 376 

INDEX ... ... ... ... ••• ••• 415 



SOME EVENTS IN THE LIFE AND TIME OF 
NAPOLEON III. 

1808. Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte born, April 20, in Paris. 

1815. He accompanies his mother into exile. 

1830. Eevolution in France. Louis-Philippe King of the French. 

1831. Louis Napoleon visits Paris and joins the Swiss artillery. 

1836. He attempts to provoke sedition at Strasburg and is shipped to America. 

1837. He returns to Europe and loses his mother. 

1838. He takes up his residence in London (October). 

1840. He attempts to proclaim the Empire at Boulogne, and is tried and 
imprisoned at Ham. 

1846. He escapes and returns to London. 

1848. Louis-Philippe being overthrown, he returns to France, is elected in 
June a member of the Assembly, and in December President of the 
Bepublic. 

1851. He effects his Coup d'Etat (December 2-5), which is ratified by a 

Plebiscitum appointing him President for 10 years. 

1852. A fresh Plebiscitum ratifies the proposed re-establishment of the 

Empire, which is proclaimed on December 2, 

1853. Napoleon III. and Eugenie de Montijo are married on January 29 

and 30. 

1854. The Crimean War declared. 

1855. Visits of Napoleon and the Empress to England, and of Queen Victoria 

to Paris. The Emperor's life attempted by Pianori. First Paris 
Universal Exhibition. Fall of Sebastopol in September. 

1856. The Prince Imperial born on March 16. The Treaty of Paris signed. 

1867. General Elections in France. Imperial visit to Osborne. Napoleon's 
intrigue with Mme. de Castiglione. Tibaldi's plot. Indian Mutiny. 

1858. The Orsini assassination plot. Law of Public Safety and stern rule in 

France. Queen Victoria at Cherbourg. 

1859. War in Italy from May to July (Magenta, Solferino, etc). The Empress 

Eugenie's first Eegency. 



xii CHRONOLOGICAL LIST 

1860. Savoy and Nice annexed to France. Franco-British Commercial Treaty. 

Garibaldi frees Sicily and Naples. The Empress Eugenie visits 
Scotland. The Emperor makes parliamentary concessions. Advent 
of the " Liberal Empire." 

1861. The King of Prussia visits Compiegne. International intervention in 

Mexico. The English and French allied in China. The American 
Civil War begins. The Kingdom of Italy fovmded. Death of the 
Prince Consort. 

1862. The French land in Mexico. Reduction of French rentes by Fould. 

The Schleswig-Holstein trouble begins. 

1863. Maximilian accepts the Mexican crown. The great Polish insurrection 

begins. Napoleon's proposal for a Congress on Italian, Polish, 
Danish, and Balkan affairs, rejected by Great Britain. Death of 
Billault, his chief minister. First symptoms of his illness. The 
Greco plot. 

186i. The Schleswig-Holstein War. Napoleon's affair with Mile. Bellanger. 
Death of his secretary Mocquard. Convention with Italy to quit 
Rome in two years. The Emperor ill in Switzerland. 

1865. Death of M. de Morny. Napoleon ill at Chalons. He visits Algeria. 

The Empress's second Regency. End of the American Civil War. 

1866. War between Prussia (allied with Italy) and Austria. Koniggratz is 

fought on July 4. Napoleon very ill. The French begin to 
withdraw from Mexico. 

1867. The Constitution is modified by Napoleon. Rouher, " Vice-Emperor." 

Neutralization of Luxemburg. Second great Paris Exhibition. 
Royalties in Paris. Maximilian is shot on June 19. Failly defeats 
Garibaldi at Mentana. French conquests and protectorates in Cochin 
China, Napoleon has to abandon treatment at Vichy. 

1868. Rochefort produces La Lanterne. Unrest in Paris and other cities. 

Death of Count Walewski. Overthrow of Isabella of Spain. 

1869. French general elections. Many Republican and Orleanist successes. 

Resignation of Rouher and others, he becoming President of the 
Senate. The Constitution again modified. Napoleon extremely ill. 

1870. Parliamentary rule with Emile OUivier's ministry. Victor Noir shot by 

Pierre Bonaparte. New Constitution and Plebiscitum. The Beaury 
plot. Consultation respecting the Emperor's health. The Franco- 
German War begins (July). The Empress's third Regency. Napoleon 
surrenders at Sedan on September 1, and on the 4th the Empire is 
overthrown in Paris. 

1871. Napoleon arrives in England in March. 
1873. He dies at Chislehurst on January 9. 

1879. The Imperial Prince killed in South Africa on June 1. 



THE 

COURT OF THE TUILERIES 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY 

A glance at the History of the Tuileries — Louis Napoleon, Prince President 
and Emperor of the French — The Solemn Proclamation of the Second 
Empire — The Restoration of the Tuileries. 

Thirty-six years ago, during that Bloody Week in May, 1871 , 
when, with the fury of despair, the Commune of Paris battled 
vainly against the army of Versailles, the chief metropolitan 
palace of the rulers of France was destroyed by fire. Archi- 
tecturally inferior to the Louvre, though some of its apartments 
were masterpieces of decoration, it was a massive but not par- 
ticularly imposing pile. It laid no claim to antiquity. The 
site on which it stood was, in the twelfth century, outside Paris, 
and given over to brick and tile works, whence the name of 
Tuileries was derived. About 1342 a couple of pleasure-houses 
were built on the spot, and a hundred and sixty years later 
these properties were acquired by Louise of Savoy, mother of 
Francis I., who during her regency in 1525 gave them " for 
life" to Jean Tiercelin, master of the Dauphin's household. 
They subsequently reverted to the crown, and in 1564 Catherine 
de' Medici ordered the demolition of the old houses, to make 
room for a new royal palace by which she intended to replace 
that of Les Tournelles, which, in conjunction with her son, 
Francis II., she superstitiously destroyed because her husband, 



2 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Henri H., had died there from the effects of the lance-thrust he 
received in a joust with Montgomery. 

The original design for the palace of the Tuileries was pre- 
pared by the famous Philibert Delorme, and the building was 
entrusted to him and another notable man, Bullant, conjointly. 
But all at once Catherine stopped the work, and devoted herself 
to erecting near the markets a mansion which became known as 
the Hotel de Soissons, and in the court or grounds of which 
was raised the well-known column whence the Queen and her 
astrologers made their astronomical observations. There is 
a legendary story of the reason why Catherine abandoned the 
building of the Tuileries. It was predicted to her, it is said, 
that she would die at "Saint Germain," and on finding that 
the site of the new palace was in the parish of St. Germain- 
TAuxerrois, she fled from it in dread. The tale is, of course, 
similar to that of Henry VII. of England and Jerusalem, and 
may well be purely imaginary, although it is in keeping with 
what we know of Catherine's superstitious nature. One thing 
is certain, the palace of the Tuileries was always an " unlucky "" 
one. None of the princes born within its walls ever ascended 
the throne of France. The King of Rome, the first 
Napoleon's son, the Duke de Bordeaux,* the heir of the House 
of Bourbon, the Count de Paris, the hope of the Orleans 
dynasty, the Imperial Prince born to the Second Empire — all 
these first saw the light at the Tuileries. And none of them 
reigned; all found death abroad, exiled from France. Those 
who are given to superstition might think that Catherine de' 
Medici with her Italian necromancy, and her legendary pro- 
pensity for ill-doing, had cast some spell over the palace which 
she left unfinished. Certainly none ever had a better claim to 
the name of Palazzo della Jettatura. 

Even as a building the Tuileries was unfortunate. Had it 
been built on the lines laid down by Philibert Delorme, it would 
have been magnificent, but the plans were modified again and 
again by successive generations of rulers and architects. Few 
kings ever resided there. The Louvre was the abode of the last 
Valois and the first Bourbons. It is true that in 1572 — the 
year of St. Bartholomew — Charles IX. gave Lord Lincoln, 

* Better remembered, perhaps, by his later title of Count de Chambord. 



INTRODUCTORY S 

Queen Elizabeth's ambassador, a grand supper in his mother's 
unfinished palace, that being apparently the first court enter- 
tainment associated with the history of the Tuileries ; but the 
fragmentary piles raised by Delorme and Bullant were treated 
with great neglect until Henri IV. thought of uniting the 
Tuileries to the Louvre. He entrusted the work first to 
Androuet du Cerceau, later to others, but his death stopped 
it, and it was not resumed until the reign of Louis XIV. 

That prince, during his lengthy minority, lived chiefly at 
the Palais Royal, having St. Germain-en-Laye as his country 
residence, and the Tuileries became the abode of Mile, de 
Montpensier, "la grande Mademoiselle," and later of the first 
Philip of Orleans. But before Louis gave rein to his passion 
for Versailles, he spent some years at the Tuileries, and entrusted 
to architect Levau the completion both of that palace and of 
the Louvre. Levau destroyed nearly everything which then 
remained of the work of the original builders. The interior 
decorations by Bunel and Paul Ponce were also obliterated or 
removed, and Mignard, Philippe de Champagne, and others 
supplied innumerable allegories symbolical of the glory of their 
young but already great monarch. Further, the Place du 
Carrousel took its name from some superb jousts which were 
held there by command of King Louis, and at which three 
queens * distributed the prizes allotted for dexterity. A little 
earlier, in Mile, de Montpensier's time, the great paved square 
had been a delightful garden with superb basins of pink 
marble, some fragments of which were discovered about fifty 
years ago, 

' The private apartments of Louis XIV. were on the ground 
floor, and were profusely decorated by Mignard, the best of 
whose paintings was perhaps that which adorned the alcove 
where the King slept. It represented the Goddess of Night, 
crowned with poppies, and carrying two sleeping children in 
her arms. In the King's cabinet, either in his time or a little 
later, was placed a large picture which portrayed him present- 
ing his grandson, the Duke of Anjou, to the Spanish envoys, 
and saying, " Gentlemen, here is your King," on which occasion, 

* Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XIV,, Anne of Austria, his mother, and 
Henrietta Maria, his aunt and widow of Charles I. of Great Britain. 



4 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

according to the story, the chief Spanish ambassador exclaimed, 
" Sire, there are no more Pyrenees." In any case it seems that it 
was at the Tuileries, and not at Versailles, that the first Bourbon 
King of Spain was presented to the representatives of his future 
subjects. That, in the eyes of the superstitious, may account 
for all the unhappy vicissitudes of the Spanish Bourbons. Ever 
fatal was the palace of the Tuileries. 

Its principal inmate after Louis XIV. removed to Versailles 
was the Grand Dauphin, who never reigned. Then, in succes- 
sion, various governors of " Sons of France "" took up their 
quarters in the superb rooms in which Philippe de Champagne 
had depicted the education of Achilles — misfortune of one 
kind and another meantime pursuing the scions of the royal 
house. Louis XIV. had intended to unite the palace to the 
Louvre on the northern (or, as some readers may prefer us to 
say, the Rue de Rivoli) side, even as in Henri IV.'s time the two 
buildings had already been connected on the south, that is, the 
side of the Seine. But neither of the Great Monarch's imme- 
diate successors embarked on the work. Louis XV. seldom, if 
ever, showed himself at the Tuileries after his childhood, and 
Louis XVI. only resided there when he was forced to do so by 
the Revolution. In the earlier period of the reign, when Marie 
Antoinette came from Versailles to Paris to witness a theatrical 
performance or participate in some festivity, she usually slept 
at the Garde Meuble on the Place Louis XV., now the Place 
de la Concorde. 

During the Revolution the Tuileries witnessed many stirring 
scenes, which ended in the memorable attack of August 10, 
1792, when Louis XVI. and his family quitted the palace, never 
to return to it. In the following year the Convention installed 
itself in the palace play-house, while various branches of the 
administration of those days found quarters in one or another 
part of the building — the famous Committee of Public Safety 
meeting in the Pavilion de Flore, whither Robespierre with his 
shattered jaw was carried from the Hotel de Ville on the night 
preceding his execution. Later, both the Council of the 
" Ancients " and that of the " Five Hundred "" assembled at the 
Tuileries, the latter in the same hall as the defunct Convention, 
and the former in the large lofty apartment which, in our times. 



INTRODUCTORY 5 

was called the Salle des Marechaux, but which had been tnown, 
under the old monarchy, as the Hall of the Swiss Guards. 
The scene in later years of many great gatherings, many 
splendid entertainments, the Salle des Marechaux will often be 
mentioned in this book. Two storeys in height, and almost 
square, its breadth being fifty-two and its length sixty feet, it 
embraced the space occupied by a superb winding staircase 
erected by Philibert Delorme for Catherine de' Medici but 
demolished by I^ouis XIV. 

While the Legislature of the Directory met at the Tuileries, 
the Directory itself was installed in a building raised by another 
Medici, the Palais du Luxembourg,* It was there that 
Barras reigned over France and regaled his harem ; there, too, 
that he and his colleagues gave a triumphal reception to General 
Bonaparte, when the latter returned to France in 1797 after his 
Italian victories. 

Before long, Bonaparte, in his turn, resided at the Luxem- 
bourg as First Consul of the Republic, but on February 19, 
1800, he and his colleague Lebrun lodged themselves at the 
Tuileries — Lebrun in the Pavilion de Flore by the Seine, and 
Bonaparte in that part of the palace extending from Lebrun"'s 
quarters to the Pavilion de THorloge. The Empress Josephine's 
apartments were on the ground floor on the garden side. 

Under Napoleon the palace theatre was re-established, a 
meeting hall for the Council of State was built, and the 
northern gallery joining the Louvre was begun. But the 
Empire fell; the battle of Paris was impending when Marie 
Louise and the King of Rome fled from the Tuileries to 
Blois, and soon afterwards Louis XVIII. installed himself and 
his court at the palace. In his turn he had to quit it, and 
Napoleon, coming from Elba, was carried in triumph up the 
palace stairs, kissed on each step by fair women, and acclaimed 
by devoted adherents. During those last hundred days of 
power, however, he preferred to reside at the Elysee Palace : it 
was there that he planned the campaign which ended at 

* So called because an earlier mansion on the same site had belonged to 
the Duke de Piney-Luxembourg. When the palace of Marie de' Medici passed 
to her second son, Gaston, it became known officially as the Palais d'0rl6ans, 
but the traditional name of Luxembourg always prevailed, and subsists to-day. 



6 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Waterloo ; and when, a fugitive from the battle-field, he once 
more returned to Paris, it was to the Elysee that he again 
betook himself, there that he signed his second and final 
abdication. Then Louis XVIH., restored once more, made 
the Tuileries his residence until his death. He was the only 
Kincj of France that ever died there. 

During his reign and that of Charles X., the work of 
completing the palace on the north was resumed. But the 
Revolution of 1830 swept the senior branch of the Bourbons 
away, and the Parisians burst into the Tuileries during the 
Three Glorious Days. In October, 1831, after numerous 
alterations had been effected in the interior arrangements, 
Louis Philippe and his family made the palace their abode. 
Little harm had been done to it by the mob in 1830, but at 
the Revolution of 1848, when Louis Philippe fled to England 
as plain "John Smith," many of the apartments were sacked 
and badly damaged. The palace became for a while a kind of 
ambulance, many of those wounded in the Revolution being 
carried to it ; then, in 1849, it served for the annual fine art 
exhibition, the " Salon," as one generally says. 

On January 1, 1852, howevei*, a new master took possession 
of the royal pile, one who was superstitious in his way, who 
believed in destiny, who at night, in the gardens of Arenenberg 
above Lake Constance, had heard, or fancied he heard, voices 
telling him that he was predestined to rule France and restore 
the glory of the Empire. Believing in that mission, he gave 
no heed to the sinister reputation of the Tuileries, no thought 
to the Little Red Man who appeared there periodically to 
announce danger to some prince, downfall to some dynasty. 
Besides, his task was already virtually accomplished ; success 
was his ; of the Republic over which he presided only the name 
remained ; he had overthrown the Constitution on December 2, 
and all who were minded to oppose him had afterwards been 
shot down, banished, or imprisoned. So he took possession 
of the Tuileries, and though it was in a sadly neglected 
state, greatly in need of repair and re-decoration, the Govern- 
ment architects and other officials worked so zealously that 
the reception rooms were got into a sufficiently clean and 
orderly condition to enable the Prince President to give his 



INTRODUCTORY 7 

first reception in the palace on the evening of January 24. 
It was then that the men who had effected the Coup d'Etat 
first met in joyous assembly, congratulating one another on the 
success of their enterprise, and raising their glasses, brimful of 
" Veuve Clicquot," to fortune and the coming Empii-e. 

Here let us pause. This book is not intended to be a study 
of high politics. Its purpose is rather to depict the manners 
and customs of the Court of the Second Empire, to chronicle 
some of the magnificence and pageantry that marked the last 
years of the life of the ill-fated Tuileries — years which were 
the most splendid the palace ever knew, but which, after some 
nine months of semi-quiescence, were suddenly followed by its 
annihilation. The imperial Court will also be followed to St. 
Cloud, Compiegne, Fontainebleau, Biarritz, and other places; 
we shall peep into the Palais Royal, into the mansion of the 
Princess Mathilde, and some others of those days, and the social 
rather than the political aspect of affairs will always be our 
principal theme. But at the same time some mention of 
politics is necessary, and something must be said, too, of the 
physical and moral characteristics, the careers and aims, of 
the chief personages flitting across our pages. Here, at the 
outset, it is appropriate to speak of the man who was at the 
head of them all — that is Napoleon III. 

At the time of the Coup d'Etat of December, 1851, Charles 
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was in his forty-fourth year. 
Slightly below the middle height, he had a long trunk and 
short legs, in such wise that while he looked almost insignificant 
on foot he appeared to advantage on horseback. He was the 
third son of Napoleon's younger brother, Louis, some time King 
of Holland, by the latter's marriage with Hortense Eugenie de 
Beauharnais, daughter of the Empress Josephine by her first 
husband. The first son born to Louis and Hortense died in 
childhood, and the second succumbed to typhoid fever while 
participating in a Carbonaro rising in the Romagna in 1831, 
when the remaining son became the sole heir of the family. It 
is indisputable that on more than one occasion Louis Bonaparte 
asserted in writing that this third son was no child of his. In 
a letter addressed to Pope Gregory XVI,, after his second son's 
death, he said : " As for the other [the future Napoleon III,] 



8 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

who usurps my name, he, as you know, Holy Father, is nothing 
to me, thanks be to God."" In another communication to the 
same Pontiff, ex-King Louis reiterated that allegation, but the 
truth appears to be that his knowledge of his wife's faithless- 
ness at various periods inclined him to believe, at times, that 
none of the children of their union were his own. In more 
reasonable moments he acted very differently, laying claim to 
the boys, and insisting on his rights as their father. There 
was certainly more than one quarrel, more than one period of 
coldness, almost hostility, between the ex-King of Holland 
and the future Emperor of the French, but in their personal 
correspondence, at least so far as it has been published, there 
appears no indication of any denial of paternity. Indeed, the 
father often sends the son his blessing and advice, and inter- 
venes with others on his behalf. 

Again, in Napoleon III/s younger days, there was consider- 
able physical resemblance between him and King Louis, neither 
being of the accepted Bonaparte type, owing, perhaps, in King 
Louis' case, of some prepotency on the maternal side. Moreover 
Napoleon III. often evinced a disposition similar to that of King 
Louis. The latter was more or less a dreamer, one who shut 
himself up and wrote romances and poetry. There was the 
same bent in the son, who also dreamt many dreams, and 
evinced decided literary inclinations. Further, as Taxile 
Delord, no friend of the Bonapartes, has pointed out. King 
Louis, by his last will and testament, virtually proclaimed to 
the world that Louis Napoleon was his son ; and that statement 
emanating from a man who had long been ailing, and who knew 
that death would soon be upon him, may be taken as decisive. 
One may therefore assume that the bitter enmity with which 
Louis regarded the wife whom he had married under com- 
pulsion, and from whom he sought judicial separation,* carried 
him at times further than was accurate or just. 

It has been pointed out that there was at one period a 
certain facial resemblance between King Louis and his third 

* By a Judgment of the Court of First Instance of Paris, January 19, 1816, 
his second (and then eldest surviving) son was handed over to his custody. 
He did not claim the third, perhaps on account of the latter's tender age — 
he was not eight years old. StiU, the circumstance is curious. 



INTRODUCTORY 9 

son. There was none, however, between the latter and his 
mother, Hortense. From her, as well as from his father, 
Louis Napoleon, doubtless, derived some of his literary bent. 
She also transmitted to him some of her own taste for display, 
and partiality for the frivolities of life. Those characteristics 
were not apparent in her husband. He wished his sons to 
be reared with what he deemed to be Spartan simplicity, and 
in a note respecting the future restorer of the Empire, he 
insisted that the boy should be given plain food, and drink 
only Bordeaux claret, neither coffee nor liqueurs being allowed 
him. Further, he wrote : " My son is to wash his feet once a 
week, clean his nails with lemon, his hands with bran, and 
never with soap. He must not use Eau de Cologne or any 
other perfume. . . . Broad shoes are to be made for him, such 
as serve for either foot." 

In one respect Napoleon III. proved himself essentially the 
son of Queen Hortense. She, from her mother, the adven- 
turess Josephine, had inherited no little sensuality, to which 
she repeatedly gave rein. It is true we have only the assertion 
of Bourrienne that, prior to her marriage, she was the mistress 
of her step-father Napoleon, who, when his aide-de-camp, Duroc, 
refused to make her his wife, forced her on his brother Louis ; 
but it is certain that she subsequently had favoured lovers, 
among others the Count de Flahault, father of the child who 
became known as Duke de Morny. The amorous passions of 
Hortense were transmitted to Napoleon III., who had several 
mistresses of English, Italian, and French nationality. 

In spite of many adverse circumstances, the education he 
received was fairly good. His first tutor, Philippe Lebas, the 
son of a friend of Robespierre and St. Just, was a man of 
letters, well versed in classical history and literature ; the 
second, Narcisse Veillard, had been an artillery officer, and was 
possessed of considerable mathematical attainments. Doubt- 
less it was Louis Napoleon's association with M. Veillard which 
afterwards prompted him to enter the Swiss artillery under 
Dufour, and write on gunnery ; while Lebas, from what we know 
of his principles, may have first suggested to him, not only that 
veneer of republicanism which he at one period cast over his 
actions, but also the humanitarian ideas by which he was often 



10 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

haunted, the interest he took in the claims of the masses to a 
larger share of material comfort than they then enjoyed. For 
the rest, the social question repeatedly came to the front during 
Louis Philippe"'s reign, and Louis Napoleon's perusal of some 
of the many works dealing with the subject, and his intercourse 
at times with men whose attention it had seriously engaged, 
tended to keep it well before his mind. 

He was governed, however, by one predominant idea. It is 
certain that he was well versed in the history of his great 
uncle's career, that he studied virtually every writing that had 
emanated from Napoleon, or that had been issued with his 
approval. It was apparently his mother, Queen Hortense, who 
first impressed on him that he was predestined to restore the 
Empire, In pursuing that task he imitated, as closely as 
circumstances permitted, the steps by which the Empire had 
been originally founded. He had no great victories behind 
him, nor had he the genius of his uncle, and it was only by 
patience and dexterity that he could hope to secure what the 
other had won by his daring. At first he thought otherwise. 
The memory of the Empire was recent, the idea of its glory 
still appealed to many Frenchmen, numbers of Napoleon's old 
companions in arms still lived : hence the attempts of Stras- 
bourg and Boulogne, those imitations — with variations — of the 
return from Elba. They failed, however, and Louis Napoleon 
then realized that he must adopt other methods if he were to 
attain his object. 

It has been contended that he was not a man of action. 
Nowadays the world best remembers him as he was in his 
declining years, afflicted by a terrible disease. In his younger 
days, however, he combined with a dreamy and imaginative 
mind no little physical vigour and activity. A good swimmer, 
an expert shot, a skilful rider, one too who could appreciate all 
the points of a horse, he contended not unsuccessfully against 
the lymphatic side of his nature. One has only to consult the 
French newspapers for the years 1851 and 1852, to realize how 
immense was Louis Napoleon''s expenditure of physical energy 
during the period of preparation first for the Coup d'Etat, and 
later for the re-establishment of the Empire. He was here, he 
Avas there, he was everywhere, he travelled incessantly, when he 



INTRODUCTORY 11 

was not riding he was receiving or banquetting, or dancing, or 
speaking. Few were the hours which he can have accorded to 
sleep during that all-important period in his life. 

That he was personally brave, heedless of danger on the 
battlefield, is acknowledged by his worst enemies, but at the 
same time there were lacuncB in his energy. In his earlier 
years, although the restoration of the Empire was his fixed idea, 
he would probably never have made the attempts he did had 
he not been brought to the necessary pitch by some confederate 
— such as Fialin de Persigny, probably the most daring of his 
band. There is a tale that at the time of the Coup d'Etat he 
momentarily shrank from the prosecution of his designs, and 
that an adherent — Fleury, it is asserted — fearing that he and 
others would be left in the lurch, threatened him with a pistol, 
saying that it was too late to retreat, and that the business 
must be carried through. Even if that story were true, however, 
it would hardly suffice to prove Louis Napoleon a coward. 
Caesar hesitated to cross the Rubicon till a portent appeared to 
him, and the first Napoleon hesitated at the Coup d'Etat of 
Brumaire, which might have failed had it not been for the 
energy of Lucien Bonaparte and Lefebvre. Thus, if Louis 
Napoleon hesitated for an instant in December, 1851, he only 
followed a family precedent. 

In later years, when General Boulanger procrastinated, and 
had nobody of sufficient authority beside him to compel him to 
act, he lost his chance irremediably. All Louis Napoleon's 
various postponements of the Coup d'Etat in 1851 were due 
to circumstances, such as the incompleteness of the preparations, 
the last one occurring because Colonel Espinasse, who was 
appointed to seize the Palais Bourbon, where the Assembly 
met, required two days to study the interior arrangements of 
the building, when it was that he discovered the still existing 
subterranean passage by which Baze, the quaestor, and the 
other officials of the assembly had hoped to escape in the event 
of a surprise. 

Louis Napoleon's Coup d'Etat was an illegality which 
attendant circumstances converted into a crime. But whatever 
considerations guided many of his adherents, he himself was 
not swayed by any motives of base animosity or sordid greed. 



12 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

The Bonapartist historians assert that if he had not deposed 
the Assembly, the Assembly would have deposed him ; whereas 
Republican writers maintain that the Assembly had no such 
intention. But we believe that it really harboured that design, 
and that the case was simply one of Coup d'Etat against Coup 
d'Etat. The President, however, held the trump cards, the big 
battalions were on his side, and he used them. 

It must be said, too, that France was not Republican at that 
time. There was, of course, a Republican party, but it consisted 
of only a fraction of the nation, for the enthusiasm of 1848 had 
been killed by a series of occurrences — several great blunders, 
and some deplorable excesses. As for the Legitimists, who wished 
to restore the senior branch of the Bourbons, they were not 
numerous enough to achieve that object. The Orleanists were 
still discredited, in fact, "impossible"; and thus the outlook 
generally was a gloomy one. France desired a stable govern- 
ment, such as was denied to her by the strife of politicians. 
The various ministries formed by Louis Napoleon as President 
of the Republic were constantly being overthrown by one or 
another parliamentary vote, and continuity of policy was 
extremely difficult. Two courses were open to the President. 
He might resign and wash his hands of the whole business, 
or he might follow the example of Cromwell and the first Napo- 
leon, and make his power effective. He took the latter course, as 
was natural, possessed as he had always been by the idea that 
he was predestined to restore the Empire. 

If he had resigned, however, what would then have happened, 
what man, what party, was there, competent to put an end 
to the general unrest, and guide the national life into orderly 
channels ? We can name neither man nor party, we can only 
picture confusion and chaos. And in any case, although Louis 
Napoleon's Coup d'Etat was undoubtedly an illegal act, a 
brutal act, attended by the most deplorable circumstances, 
bloodshed, violent, wanton, and revengeful deeds, it solved for 
a time the difficulties in which France was plunged. Under 
all the circumstances, some such solution was, we think, inevi- 
table. If Louis Napoleon had not seized power by force another 
would have attempted it. There are times when the knot in a 
nation''s life is so inextricable that it must be cut with the sword. 



INTRODUCTORY 13 

Louis Napoleon, though extremely fond of military pomp, 
and an adept at "playing with soldiers,"" can hardly be 
accounted a warlike prince. He was, we believe, sincere when 
he said that the Empire would mean peace — a declaration which 
clenched the question of the revival of the Imperial Regime. 
Prior to the act of force which made him dictator, he had 
fought his way onward chiefly hy finesse and stratagem, and his 
success in that respect convinced him that he was possessed of 
diplomatic abilities. In later years, after such experiences as 
the Crimea, the war in Italy, and the Mexican affair, he seems 
to have placed far more reliance in diplomacy than in arms, 
but he was, as all will remember, no match for Bismarck either 
before or after Koniggratz. 

He had his good qualities. He was faithful to his friends, 
he was generous, he spent almost without counting, he was 
always desirous of finding employment for the working classes, 
and of improving the opportunities of the peasantry. His 
policy in that connection may be regarded as one of bribes, but 
the country undoubtedly benefited by it. Equity requires us to 
say that with all allowance for incidental mishaps and scandals, 
such as the Credit Mobilier affair, France had never known such 
a period of material prosperity as that which she enjoyed 
between 1852 and 1870. 

Before the Coup d'Etat Louis Napoleon did much to further 
public works ; and during the ensuing year down to the pro- 
clamation of the Empire, the pages of the Moniteur literally 
teem with decrees and announcements relating; to bridges, 
buildings, roads, canals, docks, and so forth, and to subventions 
granted with respect to them. Other decrees record more 
obvious and less worthy bribes, some thousands of people being 
appointed to the Legion of Honour solely by way of securing 
or requiting their political support. Curiously enough a large 
number of priests figured in those decrees, doubtless because 
Louis Napoleon intended to employ the Church as an instrument 
of rule. At the same time the Moniteur also reproduced 
innumerable addresses from city and town, village and hamlet, 
asking for the restoration of the Empire. Those addresses were 
not of a stereotyped pattern. We have read some hundreds of 
them and have not found any two couched in precisely the 



14 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

same language, though all undoubtedly breathe one and the 
same spirit : A stable government, a return of prosperity in 
commerce, industry and agriculture, that was the desire of 
France. 

The Empire came, the Prince President assuming the 
imperial dignity with as little delay as possible. Let us now 
return to what we think of him. He was, as we have said, 
in his forty-fourth year, and rather below the middle height. 
He had dark chestnut hair, and a colourless countenance. His 
eyes, which seldom looked one in the face, were almost black. 
In later years he kept them half closed and expressionless. He 
combined, as we have seen, considerable physical vigour and 
personal courage, with a dreamy, imaginative mind and a very 
amorous, sensual temperament. That was acknowledged by 
one who knew him well, and for whom he had great regard, 
his foster sister, Madame Cornu. Speaking of his attitude 
towards her sex, she said that he had no moral sense whatever, 
but by reason of his position exerted himself to keep his 
passions under control ; in which exertion, as is well known, 
he did not always succeed. His energy in that as in other 
respects was intermittent. There were moments when he 
needed the spur or the goad, the help of Morny's " iron hand 
in a velvet glove," and of Persigny's unscrupulous audacity. If 
at times he thus lacked vigour and initiative, it was, we think, 
because he fully believed in predestination. He was in no wise 
the savage brute suggested by Victor Hugo''s " Chatiments," 
which, while it contains many admirable lines, is altogether 
surcharged with invective. As was previously said. Napoleon 
certainly had humanitarian leanings, particularly with respect 
to the dissemination of the comforts of life. As for his 
diplomatic powers, he overrated them, and his diplomacy 
generally proved more mischievous than fruitful. 

In spite of his literary leanings, he entertained no good 
opinion of the press. He often said : " The best newspaper 
is worth nothing." He lacked his mother's ear for music, 
though, like her, he was fond of pomp and display. At the 
same time he remained accessible, and free from haughtiness. 
Both before and for some years after he had become 
Emperor, he readily danced with one and another village girl 



INTRODUCTORY 15 

at a country ball, cordially offered a soldier a smoke, and 
chinked glasses with a peasant mayor. He could smile readily 
enough at the period when his destiny was still trembling in 
the balance. It was only some time after he had assumed the 
imperial purple that his countenance became saturnine, and 
his manners marked by distrust. He was surrounded by many 
devoted police-agents, but he had been a conspirator himself, 
and he feared conspirators, attaching, as was perhaps natural, 
increased value to his life after the birth of his only son, to 
whom he desired to bequeath a united and prosperous France. 
Further, he felt, we may be sure of it, the strictures passed 
upon him personally in connection with the Coup d'Etat, and 
brooded over them more than once. Thus, before long, he 
grew more and more reserved, becoming one of the most 
taciturn of monarchs. 

Many years of his life had been spent in exile, in Italy, 
Switzerland, Germany, England, and America, and in spite of 
his education by French tutors, there was always a suspicion 
of a foreign accent in his speech, and some suggestion of 
foreign customs in his manners. He spoke English and 
German fluently, and his Italian was nearly as good. Cosmo- 
politan in his speech and his loves, he evinced a similar spirit 
in his dress. If his coats were French, his trousers were 
English — Dusautoy making the former, and the latter being 
supplied by Poole, who frequently despatched a representative 
to the Tuileries with patterns. As time elapsed the Emperor 
became more and more partial to civilian dress, never assuming 
a uniform unless occasion expressly required it, whereas before 
ascending the throne his uniforms were constantly in use. 

In October, 1852, on his return from the long tour through 
southern France when he declared that the Empire would mean 
peace, he made a pompous entry into Paris, escorted by fifty- 
two squadrons of cavalry and several batteries of horse artillery. 
Numerous triumphal arches had been erected between the 
terminus of the Orleans railway line and the Tuileries, all of 
them bearing inscriptions which foreshadowed the approaching 
change of regime. On one appeared the words : " Vox Populi, 
Vox Dei," on another, "Ave Caesar Imperator;" while on a 
third, at the entrance of the Tuileries Gardens, the Prince (as he 



in 



16 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

still was) could read this pompous eulogy : " To Napoleon IH., 
Emperor and Saviour of Modern Civilization, Protector of 
Art, Science, Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce, from the 
e-rateful Workmen of Paris." Under that arch he made his 
way into the garden, and so to the Tuileries Palace. At night 
the city was ilhiminated, and during the ensuing week the 
Prince, who had installed himself at St. Cloud, attended gala 
performances at the Opera and the Theatre Frangais, where 
enthusiastic imperialist demonstrations were made. 

On November 4 the Senate, having assembled to discuss the 
steps to be taken concerning what was styled "the proposed 
modification of the constitution," nominated a commission to 
report to it on the subject. This report, which emanated from 
a marshal of France, four generals, two cardinals, two dukes, 
and an astronomer, Leverrier, proved to be a long and learned 
production in which Tacitus and Machiavelli (ben trovato) were 
freely quoted. Its recommendation was that the question 
ought to be decided by a national vote or Plebiscitum. The 
Corps Legislatif was thereupon convoked to control and 
report on the returns of this Plebiscitum, which was taken 
on November 21 and 22. The votes recorded for the re- 
establishment of the Empire were 7,864,189, while those 
against it were but 253,145 ; another 63,326 being declared 
null. The majority was overwhelming, but one may point 
out that a fairly large number of people refrained from voting. 
In Paris, for instance, there were 315,501 electors on the 
lists, but only 270,710 cast their votes, the number of ayes 
being 208,615. The truth appears to be that, although the 
opponents of the Empire were badly routed, they were more 
numerous than was shown by the official returns. 

The result of the Plebiscitum was laid before the Prince 
in state at the chateau of St. Cloud, whither he had returned 
after a stay at Fontainebleau, where he had been conferring 
with his friend. Lord Cowley, the British Ambassador, respect- 
ing his recognition as Emperor by foreign Courts. It was at 
once decided that the proclamation of the new Empire should 
take place on December 2, which was the anniversary alike 
of the battle of Austerlitz, of the coronation of the first 
Napoleon by the Pope, and of the recent Coup d'Etat. For 



INTRODUCTORY 17 

that reason the decision was a bold one, for while it linked 
the new to the former Empire, and recalled the latter's military 
glory, it also showed that whatever protests had been raised, 
whatever strictures had been passed on the overthrow of the 
Constitution, Louis Napoleon prided himself on what had 
been done in that respect. As it happened, he was doomed 
to drao; that date of December 2 after him all his life. Far 
from proving an advantage, it became like the heavy ball 
attached to a convict's chain ; and if it were not for Sedan it 
would alone suffice to explain the anecdote related by Madame 
Cornu about a gipsy who once predicted to her foster-brother 
that he would rise to the highest eminence of power, but be 
killed by a boulet. 

At seven o'clock on the morning of December 2 a salute of 
101 guns burst upon Paris ft'om the Esplanade of the Invalides. 
At ten o'clock the solemn proclamation of the Empire took 
place on the Place de THotel de Ville, and this time the salutes 
were formidable. One of 101 guns came from the Invalides, a 
second, also of 101 guns, from Montmartre, and a third of like 
number from the Place du Trone, while other salvoes were fired 
by each of the forts around Paris. 

The new Emperor left St. Cloud at noon. The whole army 
of Paris was on duty ; the sovereign's escort alone consisted of 
four squadrons of Lancers, a regiment of Dragoons, a whole 
brigade of Cuirassiers, and another of Carabineers, with two 
bands of music. In addition to many generals, five Marshals, 
of France rode in the procession : Jerome Bonaparte, Vaillant, 
Leroy de St. Arnaud,Castellane,and Magnan(general-in-chief);* 
and at the moment when Napoleon III., followed by his per- 
sonal aides-de-camp, Fleury and Edgar Ney, passed under the 
Arc de Triomphe atop of the Champs Elysees, the winter sun — • 
"the sun of Austerlitz," said the zealots — suddenly shone out 
as if in greeting. Nineteen years later, early one mild March 
morning, a little troop of German Hussars cantered under that 
same arch raised to the glory of " la grande Armee " — which 
was no more ! 

On to the Tuileries went the imperial procession, and there, 

* St. Arnaud, Castellane and Magnan had been created Marshals that 
same morning. 

C 



18 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

on the Carrousel, all the troops were passed in review, then 
drawn up to hear the proclamation of the Empire which was 
read to them by Leroy de St. Arnaud, Minister of War, while 
once again there arose the deafening salvoes of 101 guns. The 
cost of the affair in gunpowder alone must have been consider- 
able. In the evening Paris was ablaze with illuminations, 
and the first imperial reception was held at the Tuileries. 
Napoleon III. was never actually crowned; he preferred to 
distribute some ,ig'10,000 among the Paris hospitals and the 
various foundling establishments of France. 

On the day of the revival of the Empire the appearance of 
the Tuileries was very different from what it had been on the 
occasion of the reception held there in the previous month of 
January.* A great deal of work still remained to be done, but 
an army of architects, artists, and decorators had long been 
busy in the palace. Naturally enough, attention had first been 
given to the State apartments. Entering the palace on the 
Carrousel side, ascending the stairs, and turning to the left into 
the ante-room of the Salle des Travees, or " Room of the Bays," 
you found the ceiling decorated with the freshly gilded sun 
of Louis XIV., and restored medalUons of Wisdom, Justice, 
Science, and Power. On either side stood several short columns 
supporting handsome bronze and porphyry busts of Roman 
Emperors. In the anteroom of the Galerie de la Paix the 
ceiling displayed medallions of wrestling children, on a gold 
ground, with a central subject which depicted Glory holding a 
palm and a crown, and heralded by winged boys who were 
blowing their trumpets.f In the Galerie de la Paix itself the 
Ionic columns and pilasters of Philibert Delorme had been 
restored and their capitals gilded. Gilding was also scattered 
profusely over the ceiling, the doors, and the wainscotings. 
The marble statues of L'Hopital and D'Aguesseau, set up here 
in Louis Philippe's time, had been removed, and their place 
taken by two huge crystal candelabra with feet of gilded 
bronze. Over the mantelpiece appeared a portrait of the new 
Emperor by Charles Louis Miiller, while at the farther ©nd of 
the gallery rose a fine silver statue of Peace. A few years later, 
after the Crimean War, when the Grand Duke Constantine of 
* See a7ite, p. 7. t The work of Vauchelet. 



INTRODUCTORY 19 

Russia came to France and was entertained at the Tuileries, he 
noticed this statue and inquired what it represented. " It 
is Peace — in silver," the Empress Eugenie replied. " Peace, 
madam.?" the Grand Duke retorted. "Ah, it ought to have 
been cast in gold." 

Let us proceed, however, with our survey of the palace. The 
famous Salle des Marechaux had been considerably modified. 
It now had six instead of four doors, the view extending beyond 
it into a long suite of magnificent rooms. On the walls hung 
fourteen large portraits of Napoleon's marshals, and below them 
were the busts of a score of First Empire generals, set on elegant 
scabelli. There had formerly been six imitation windows — 
figured by huge mirrors — on the north side of this great hall, 
but now there were ten, which gave increase of light. The 
vaulted ceiling, whence descended a huge chandelier, all gold 
and crystal, had become superb, intersected by four gilded ribs, 
which started from the four corners, where you perceived some 
large, gilded, eagle-surmounted shields, bearing the names of 
the victories gained by Napoleon personally. Between the ribs 
the ceiling simulated a sky, and above the gilded balconies 
running right round the hall, a balustrade with vases of flowers 
was painted. The lofty, imposing caryatides — plaster copies of 
Jean Goujon's work — had been gilded from top to bottom, and 
between four of them appeared a platform whence the new 
Emperor might view the revels of his Court. Green was the 
colour of the hangings and upholstery — perhaps because it was 
that of the Bonaparte family. 

No little renovation had been bestowed on the adjoining 
Salon Blanc — a guard-room in the time of Louis XIV. The 
grisaille paintings by Nicolas Loyr, representing an army on 
the march, a battle, and a triumph, had been fully restored, 
and the mouldings of the doors, the window-recesses, the shut- 
ters, and the ceiling were all freshly gilded. On every side 
were costly hangings, handsome consoles, Boule cabinets, superb 
candelabra and chandeliers — state property, much of which 
had formerly figured either at the palace of Versailles or at 
Trianon. 

In the Salon d'Apollon Lebrun's great painting of "Phaeton 
and the Nereids," and Loyr's ceiling depicting "The God of 



20 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Day starting on his career," had been most carefully renovated ; 
the dragons and chimerse of the cornices were gilded ; the 
upholstery was all fine Gobelins tapestry ; there was a handsome 
new chimney-piece, and a superb old clock in the form of a 
terrestrial globe upheld by genii. Entering the next room — 
once Louis XIV/s " Chambre de Parade " — one found, at the 
further end, the new Emperor's throne with its splendid canopy 
of crimson velvet, spangled with the gold bees of the Bonapartes 
and bordered with a design of laurel leaves. Overhead was 
perched a great gold eagle with outspread wings, another being 
embroidered in an escutcheon on the hangings behind the Chair 
of State. Throne and hangings alike had previously served on 
one occasion only — a memorable one — that of the Coronation 
of Napoleon I. at Notre Dame, since when they had been care- 
fully preserved at the Garde Meuble. On either side of the 
throne rose lofty candelabra, bearing above their lights an orb 
and a crown — insignia of power ; while on the vaulted ceiling, 
finely inlaid with enamel work by Lemoine, shone the device of 
the Grand Monarque, Nee pluribus impar. 

If the decorations of the Salon Blanc, which has already 
been mentioned, supplied a very fair example of Louis XIH. 
style, those of the so-called Salon de Louis XIV., following the 
Throne-room, furnished an example of the Grand Siecle. The 
ceiling was a new and skilful copy of Lesueur's " Olympus,"" by 
Lesurgues, while the panel paintings were grotesques by the 
two Le Moines — all delicately restored. Three pictures were 
now hung in this room, one a fine portrait of Louis XIV. by 
Rigaud, another a good copy of Gerard's Philip of Anjou, and 
the third a copy of IMignard's painting of Anne of Austria 
giving instructions to her young son. On the east side of the 
room was a door leading into Louis XIV.'s so-called winter 
apartments — first the eabinet of his valet-de-ehamhre, secondly 
his own bedroom, and thirdly his private study or library. 
The King's bedroom had afterwards been that of Napoleon I,, 
Louis XVIII., and Charles X., and the decorations were not 
of Louis XIV.'s time, having been much modified early in the 
nineteenth century, in such wise that they supplied a free 
example of the so-called Empire style. On the ceiling, painted 
in grisaille, appeared Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, and Minerva, amid 



INTRODUCTORY 21 

a number of genii and griffins. In a cavity in the wall of 
the adjoining sumptuous bath-room, fitted by Napoleon I., was 
found in revolutionary days the famous armoire de fer, in 
which the unfortunate Louis XVI. kept his compromising secret 
papers. 

The bedroom and the dressing-room of Queen Marie Therese, 
wife of Louis XIV., became in the first Napoleon's time his 
study and his secretary"'s workroom. In the autumn of 1852 
their seventeenth century decorations were carefully cleaned 
and renovated. The paintings were chiefly by Jean Nocret and 
Jacques Fouquieres. Minerva was depicted on the ceiling of 
the dressing-room, above the doors of which appeared subjects 
showing women at Avork on embroidery, tapestry, and so forth ; 
while over the mantelpiece Minerva again rose up, attended 
this time by Neptune. Beside the chimney-piece was painted 
a fine figure of Immortality, in front of it you saw Vigilance, 
then Minerva at her toilet ; while on the window side Plistory 
was symbolized. Mercury, the Arts and Sciences, Wisdom, 
and many other allegorical figures, as well as the gold sun of 
Louis XIV., adorned the adjoining bedroom of Queen Marie 
Therese, whence you passed into her salon, later that of 
Napoleon when he was First Consul. Here the Louis XIV. 
style was more marked than in the previous apartments. Fine 
Gobelins tapestry covered the panels, and paintings by Nocret 
— Glory, Fame, and once again Minerva, this time carried aloft 
by her priestesses — adorned the ceiling and the cartouches above 
the doors. Similar in style was the decoration of the Queen''s 
ante-room, the subjects here symbolized by Nocret being 
Wisdom, Peace, and Architecture, to which were added some 
landscapes by Fouquieres. All the paintings had literally been 
exhumed from beneath layers of dust, greatly to the advantage 
of Nocret's reputation. L^nhappily everything was destined to 
perish at the fall of the Commune in 1871. 

In the old guard-room, re-christened Salon de Mars in the 
first Napoleon's time, when it was decorated with grisaille 
paintings (the chief one showing Mars in his chariot, surrounded 
by the signs of the Zodiac), comparatively little work had to 
be done in 1852, but great care Avas taken in cleaning the fine 
Galerie de Diane, known under Louis XIV. as the Salon des 



22 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Ambassadeurs. This was the only apartment of the palace in 
which the paintings and the accessory decorations harmonized 
properly — everything having been conceived in the same spirit by 
the desire of Colbert, under whose supervision the original work 
was executed. Forty-one mythological paintings adorned the 
ceiling, the walls, and the cartouches over the doors — twenty-one 
of them being skilful seventeenth century copies of Annibale 
Caracci's famous fi-escoes at the Farnese Palace, notably 
the subjects showing Diana with Pan and Endymion, these 
giving the gallery its name. It was not an apartment seen to 
advantage in the daytime, for the lighting was defective, but 
it was used chiefly as a dining and supper-room, and on the 
gala nights of the Court, in the radiance shed by hundreds of 
wax lights burnins: in chandeliers and candelabra, it looked 
splendid indeed. When the guests were comparatively few, 
and would have seemed lost in such a spacious gallery, a portion 
of it was shut off by means of a cleverly contrived movable 
partition. 

About two months and a half towards the end of 1852 were 
spent on the early restoration work at the Tuileries, such as 
we have described. Architecturally it was in the charge of 
Visconti, but Basset and Haro were chiefly responsible for the 
renovation of the paintings. Subsequently the private apart- 
ments of the Empress were superbly decorated by Lefuel and 
Charles Chaplin. Only a short time was to elapse before the 
installation of an Empress at the palace, but at the end of 1852 
there was as yet none. With that exception, everything was 
ready for the revival of Court life on a splendid scale. The 
new Emperor had already decided who should be his great 
dignitaries of State, who should be added to his immediate 
entourage. Let us now see of whom that entoiwage already 
consisted, and then pass en to the composition of the new 
Court. 



CHAPTER II 



.^^ 



MEN OF THE COUP D ETAT THE NEW COUET 

Napoleon III.'s half-brother, the Duke de Morny — The first Napoleon's son, 
Count Walewski — Marshals St. Arnaud, Magnan, and Castellane— Persigny 
and Fleury — The Imperial Household : its Minister Fould — The Civil List 
and Dotation of the Crown — The Imperial Family's Allowances — Vaillant, 
Great Marshal of the Court— General Eolin, Adjutant-General — The 
Prefects of the Palace — The Great Chamberlain, Bassano, and his sub- 
ordinates — The Court Domestics — The Great Master of Ceremonies and 
his assistants — The Military Household — General Roguet — Aides-de-camp, 
Orderlies, and Cent-gardes— The Equerries — The Great Almoner and the 
Palace Chapel — The Emperor's Confessor — The Medical Service. 

In constituting the Empire and forming both its Administra- 
tion and its Court, Napoleon III. was prepared to reward right 
lavishly all who had helped him, first, to effect the Coup d'Etat 
of 1851, and secondly, to transform the nominal Republic into 
the regime he desired. There was, however, one man who 
suddenly drew aside, throwing up office and declining honours, 
and this was none other than the Coup d'Etafs chief artisan, 
the new Emperor's half-brother, M. de Morny. His parentage 
was no secret. He was the son of Queen Hortense by her lover, 
General Count de Elahault de la Billarderie, who was descended 
from an ancient Picard house. Elahault was a distinguished 
soldier : he received his baptism of fire at Marengo, acted as 
Murat's aide-de-camp at Austerlitz, and as Napoleon's after the 
return from Elba. He also shared the hardships of the retreat 
from Moscow, and, further, he fought at Waterloo, gaining 
successive steps in rank, titles, and other honours, at the point 
of his sword. Later he turned to diplomacy, becoming Louis 
Philippe's ambassador in England from 1842 to 1848. Already 
in 1815 he had tried to prevent the Bourbon Restoration and 



S4. THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

proclaim Napoleon II., and thirty- three years subsequently ho 
was one of the first to offer his services to Louis Napoleon on 
the latter''s arrival in France after the downfall of the Orleans 
Monarchy. Flahault was in the secret of the Coup d'Etat, and 
figured conspicuously in the Prince-Presidenfs escort on that 
eventful morning when the coming Emperor reviewed the soldiery. 
His liaison with Queen Hortense was, of course, a very old 
affair. It dated from 1810-1811, when Flahault was only 
some twenty-five years of age. Later, in 1817, he married the 
daughter of Admiral Viscount Keith, who became in her own 
right Baroness Keith and Nairne.* This lady would never 
admit her husband's natural son, Morny, to her presence, in 
spite of his father''s predilection for him, and the high position 
to M'hich he attained. 

Born, like his legitimate brother Napoleon III., in Queen 
Hortense''s mansion in the Rue Cerutti — now Lafiitte — in Paris 
(the house being at the present time the residence of the chief 
of the French Rothschilds), Morny was promptly removed to 
Versailles, and there registered as "Charles Auguste Louis 
Joseph Demorny (sic) born in Paris, October 23, 1811.'" He 
was "fathered,"" as the saying goes, by an old military man, 
described in the official register as Auguste Jean Hyacinthe 
Demorny, landowner on the island of San Domingo, residing 
at Villetaneuse, near Versailles. It is said that this Demorny 
had served in the Prussian army, and that he joined the allies 
in 1814, when, for his services against the Empire, Louis 
XVIII. created him a Chevalier of St. Louis. In any case, 
he was a very needy man, and Queen Hortense, in considera- 
tion of his "fathering" her illegitimate offspring, agreed to 
pay him an annuity of £240. He died, however, at the 
hospital of Versailles, soon after the Empire''s fall. The 
entry of Morny's birth further stated that his mother was 
Louise Emilie Coralie Fleury, wife of the aforesaid Demorny, 
but no such person has ever been traced, and, indeed, the many 
researches made respecting her, need not have been undertaken, 

* The Countess de Flahault was well known in Paris during the second 
Empire. She died at the Palace of the Legion of Honour (her husband being 
Chancellor of the Order) in 1867. Her daughter Emily married the fourth 
Marq^uess of Lansdowne, and became the mother of the present Marquess. 



MEN OF THE COUP D'ETAT 25 

there being no doubt whatever that the child's real mother was 
Queen Hortense. 

The name was speedily changed from Deraorny to De 
INIorny — a more aristocratic form — and the child was placed in 
the charge of M. de Flahaulfs mother, who, having married 
the Portuguese minister in France, was then known as the 
Countess de Souza. M. de Flahault himself had no great 
means at that time, the family having been ruined during the 
Revolution, when his father was guillotined ; but Queen Hor- 
tense entrusted Mme. de Souza with a sum of £8000 by way 
of provision for the son she abandoned. Unfortunately the 
lady had a bad failing ; she was a gambler, and, although bridge 
was not played in those days, she contrived to lose her ward's 
money either at cards or at rouge-et-noir. He, Morny, in later 
years also became a gambler (though a very successful one),* 
and that trait of his character may well have been inherited by 
him from his grandmother, Mme. de Souza. f He spent his 
early years at her residence in the Rue St. Florentin. Later, 
being taken in hand by his father's former aide-de-camp, General 
Carbonnel, he was sent to the Staff College, whence he emerged, 
in 1832, as a sub-lieutenant of Lancers. Through Carbonnel 
he secured the favour of some of the Orleans princes, and 
notably of the young Duke who met with such an untimely 
death in a carriage accident at Neuilly. Proceeding to Algeria, 
Morny there gained the cross of the Legion of Honour by 
helping to save General Trezel's life at the siege of Con- 
stantine. Later he became orderly officer to General Oudinot. 
But in 1838 he left the army and returned to Paris, where, in 
spite of his precarious circumstances, he began to lead the life 
of a viveur. 

D'Alton-Shee, peer of France, and a close acquaintance of 
Morny 's in those days, has described him as then being a man 
of distinguished bearing and extremely elegant appearance, 
with a shrewd, pleasant expression of face, and a way that made 

* Sir Eobert Peel called him the greatest speculator in Europe, at a time 
when the term speculator verged on one of opprobrium. 

t His literary leanings may have come from the same source, for Mme. de 
Souza was a prolific novelist, writing many now forgotten books, such as 
" Ad^le de Senange," " La Comtesse de Fargy," " Eugene de Eothelin," etc. 



26 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

him a great favourite with women. He had many love affairs, 
and M^as more than once the successful rival of the young Duke 
of Orleans. For a man of society, says D'Alton-Shee, Morny 
possessed considerable knowledge, he had a taste for idleness 
bat a capacity for work, absolute faith in himself, boldness, 
bravery, sangfroid, clear judgment, gaiety, and wit. He was 
inclined more to good-fellowship than to friendship, he was 
disposed to protect rather than serve, he was fond of pleasure, 
and resolved to enjoy luxury, he was at once both prodigal and 
greedy, and more venturesome than truly ambitious. Moreover, 
while keeping his personal engagements, he was never influenced 
by any political creed or principles of humanity. Such princely 
characteristics as dissimulation, indulgence, and contempt for his 
fellow-men were also his portion. He subordinated everything 
to the object which he might have in view, not for the benefit 
of any religion, system, or idea, but solely for the furtherance 
of his own particular interests. 

Women and speculation were his stepping-stones to fortune. 
After supplanting the Duke of Orleans in the affections of the 
Countess Lehon,* next door to whose mansion in the Champs 
Elysees he took up his abode in a smaller house, nicknamed by 
those who derided him La niche a Fidele (" Faithful's kennel "), 
he obtained money from the lady to start some beetroot-sugar 
works at Clermont-Ferrand, and used her influence to secure his 
election as a deputy (1842), in which capacity he took a not 
inconsiderable part in debates on financial and economic ques- 
tions. When the Orleans monarchy fell, Morny still remained 
one of its adherents. At that time he had no intercourse with 
his brother Louis Napoleon, indeed it is doubtful whether they 
had ever conversed together. It is said that whenever Morny 
was in London during the forties (his father, Flahault, then 
being ambassador there), he immediately rose and withdrew 
from any drawing-room in which he found himself if Prince 
Louis Napoleon were announced, f 

Later he set himself against his brother politically. He 
was a declared royalist candidate at the elections of 1849, and 

* They fought a duel on account of her. 

t Morny was proud, however, of his descent, and indulged in armes 
parlantes, his escutcheon bearing a hydrangea (French = hortensia) barred. 



MEN OF THE COUP D'ETAT 27 

as such he was bitterly though unsuccessfully opposed by the 
Bonapartists and Republicans. But he was also a shrewd man, 
and soon saw which way the wind was blowing. Thus he was 
one of the first to foretell the restoration of the Empire. His 
own affairs, moreover, were becoming very much involved, and, 
not wishing to be swept away, he felt it not only advisable but 
necessary to place himself on what he cleverly called the side 
of the broom handle. He, the illegitimate, and Louis Napoleon, 
the legitimate, son of Queen Hortense, were brought together 
then by Count Walewski, the illegitimate son of Napoleon I. by 
that devoted Polish mistress who clung to the fallen conqueror 
through the distressful days of Fontainebleau, and betook her- 
self to him with her boy during his sojourn at Elba. Marie 
Lonczynska, Countess Colonna-Walewska, subsequently married 
General Count Ornano, by whom also she had a son, who 
became attached to the Court of Napoleon HI. 

Alexandre Florian, her son by the great Emperor, rose to 
be ambassador in London at the time of the restoration of the 
Empire, and like Lord Cowley, the British representative in 
Paris, he did much to secure Great Britain's prompt recognition 
of the change of regime in France. Count Walewski, though 
essentially his mother's son in character, was physically far 
more like his father than the ill-fated Duke de Reichstadt ever 
was ; in fact, the Napoleonic cast of Walewski's countenance 
was only slightly less marked than that of the Emperor's 
nephew. Prince Napoleon Jerome. Twice married, first to an 
English Montagu, and secondly to a Ricci of Florence, Walewski 
played an important part as ambassador, minister, and president 
of the Legislative Body until his death in 1868. He favoured 
the transformation of the " personal " into the " liberal " 
Empire, and it was he who largely induced Emile Ollivier and 
the latter's band to support and effect that change. 

Morny, being brought by Walewski into close connection 
with the Prince-President, fully espoused his interests — with a 
view, of course, to the furtherance of his own. He rid himself 
of his financial embarrassments by the sale of his house and 
pictures, won many men over to the imperialist cause by his 
address and plausibility, and, taking possession of the Ministry 
of the Interior at the Coup d'Etat, he carried that measure to 



28 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

a successful issue throughout France. The vain-glorious and 
extolled De Maupas, Prefect of Police, in spite of his big, 
sturdy frame, and his healthy, florid face, was in reality a very 
nervous and apprehensive individual, and proved a mere instru- 
ment in Morny's hands.* Moreover, to the suggestions of the 
Minister of the Interior, even St. Arnaud and Magnan were 
largely indebted for the strategy they employed in the Paris 
street fighting. 

Much better looking and better built, more courtly, more 
of a grand seigneur in appearance than his half-brother 
Napoleon IH., Morny was also the abler man of the two. Had 
he been honest he might have been a great one. Shrewd and 
strong-minded, as D'Alton-Shee indicated, " a hand of iron in 
a velvet glove,*" he was also possessed of no little culture — real 
artistic perception, genuine literary ability, and great expertness 
of speech.f But the Empire was scarcely re-established when he 
abruptly withdrew from office. This man, who figured in many 
shady financial transactions, and who had not hesitated to rob 
his friend, the Duke of Orleans, of various mistresses, under 
circumstances by no means over clean, was either genuinely 
disgusted by the seizure of the Orleans private property — 
confiscated by a decree dated January 22, 1852 — or, at least, he 
regarded that spoliation as a stupendous political blunder. 
The latter view is, of course, more in keeping with his character. 
In any case (like a few others, notably M. Rouher), he resigned, 

* Maupas was rewarded for his services at the Coup d'Etat, during which 
he more than once lost his head, by being created a Senator and Minister 
Secretary of State for General Police, a post of more prominence than real 
authority. For the Prefecture of Police the right man was found in M. Pietri. 
Maupas was a Burgundian who had been an advocate and a departmental 
prefect, from which latter post he was dismissed for inventing a bogus political 
plot, whereupon he turned to the Bonapartist cause. Later in life, after 
serving as French Minister at Naples and Prefect at Marseilles, he secured the 
grand cross of the Legion of Honour, but the advent of the " Liberal " Empire 
prevented his further employment. He published two vokimes of memoirs, 
and died in Paris, in 1888. 

t He wrote numerous plays, etc., performed either publicly or at the 
private theatre at his residence as President of the Legislative Body. " M. 
Choufieury restera chez lui," with OSenbach's music, was a deserved success, 
and long held the stage. Other pieces were "Les Bons Conseils" and " Les 
Finesses du Mari," both comedies ; " La Succession Bonnet," a vaudeville ; and 
" Pas de Fum6e sans un peu de Feu," a proverbe. Morny's literary pseudonym 
was St. K6my. 



MEN OF THE COUP D^ETAT 29 

and had no share in the lavish distribution of favours which 
attended the re-establishment of the Empire. For some time, 
availing himself of the influence he retained in spite of his 
apparent secession, he devoted himself to speculation, and it 
was only in 1854 that he again came to the front politically, 
this time as President of the Legislative Body. 

From that period till, his death in March, 1865, Morny was 
regarded as the chief pillar of the Empire, the power standing 
behind the throne, though he never relinquished his gambling 
proclivities, readily turning from politics to promote banks, 
railway, mining, and industrial companies, speculating, too, in 
land, founding the fashionable seaside resort called Deauville, 
and conducing, by his connection with the issue of the Jecker 
bonds, to the development of that unfortunate Mexican affair, 
which shook the regime so severely. Even when Morny went 
to Russia as ambassador extraordinary for the coronation of 
Alexander II., his business instincts prompted him to convey 
thither an immense amount of saleable property, such as 
jewellery and lace. He well knew that by diplomatic privilege 
his baggage was not liable to duty ; and it followed that, as 
France paid for all his magnificence in Russia, he returned 
home wealthier than he had departed, in possession, too, of a 
Russian bride, for he had contrived to fascinate a young lady 
of a princely Lithuanian house, albeit he looked old enough to 
be her grandfather. The Princess Sophie Troubetskoi, as his 
bride was called, was a charming, slim, graceful, black-eyed 
blonde, with a face fit for a cameo. Subsequent to IMorny's 
death this lady, who was much admired and esteemed, married 
the Duke de Sesto.* 

Such, then, was the half-brother whom Napoleon III. 
ultimately raised to ducal rank, but who, after making the 
restoration of the Empire possible, preferred to stand aside for 
a time, officially unrewarded. Others put less restraint on their 
appetite for power and honour ; but it so happened that several 
did not appear fit for the highest places, and had to remain 
content with subordinate ones. The three marshals created on 
the day of the proclamation of the Empire retained their posts 
— Leroy de St. Arnaud as Minister of War, Magnan as com- 

* For further particulars of Morny and his wife, see ^ost, p. 289 et setj. 



80 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

mander in Paris, and Castellane as commander at Lyons. The 
last named, who belonged to a famous old noble family, has left 
an interesting " Journal," which shows that he was privy to the 
Coup d'Etat, and supported it in Southern France with alacrity 
and zeal. The two others have been greatly attacked by all 
save Bonapartist writers for their share in the events of the 
period. It has been stated repeatedly that Leroy de St. 
Arnaud was not entitled to the latter part of that name, but he, 
his brother and the other members of their family, were formally 
authorized to assume it by a decree of Louis Philippe, dated 
May 12, 1840, and they did so ; though eleven years later only 
the Marshal was singled out for taking a name alleged to be " not 
his own." As for the standing of the family, St. Arnaud's father, 
Leroy (or, as he originally wrote it, Le Roy), had been an advocate 
at the bar of the Parliament of Paris prior to the Revolution, 
no mean position, and later a Prefect under the Consulate and 
the First Empire. He died in 1809, at which date his eldest 
son, the future marshal, was eight years old. Two years later 
Le Roy's young widow, originally a Mile. Papillon de La Tapy, 
married a M. Forcade de la Roquette, and a son she had by this 
second marriage became President of the Council of State and 
Minister of the Interior under Napoleon IIL — being doubtless 
indebted for some of his political advancement to the fact that 
he Avas St. Arnaud's step-brother. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that there was really no 
basis for the innuendos respecting St. Arnaud's origin which 
were repeated in Kinglake's "History of the Crimean War" 
after figuring in a dozen French pamphlets by writers 
antagonistic to the men of the Coup d'Etat ; but, on the other 
hand, it seems clear that St. Arnaud did at one moment seek to 
disguise his identity by assuming the Christian name of Achille 
instead of those of Armand Jacques, given to him at his 
baptism. And it appears equally clear that he wished certain 
episodes of his earlier life to be buried in oblivion. Some men 
manage to " live down " the sins of their youth, others are ever 
pursued by them. It is certain that St. Arnaud, while a 
member of the Royal Bodyguard of Louis XVIII., became 
financially involved, and was dismissed from that corps d'elite 
and drafted into the Corsican Legion, and later into a Line 



MEN OF THE COUP D'ETAT 31 

regiment. But he joined the Bodyguard when he was only 
sixteen years of age, and he was barely a man when he was 
dismissed from it ; and it is unfair to lay stress upon youthful 
folly, particularly when it can be pleaded that the transgressor 
was quite without parental guidance. Of St. Arnaud's military 
ability there can be little doubt. In that respect, General 
Trochu (no admirer of things imperial), who was his last senior 
aide-de-camp, speaks highly of him in his Memoirs, and we 
are inclined to think that with some guidance in his youth 
St. Arnaud's career might have been not only successful but 
distinguished. 

If in 1827 he quitted the French army it was to escape 
dreary garrison life without prospect of promotion, for he was 
more or less a marked man, by reason, as his antagonists say, 
of his bad reputation in money matters, or, as his partisans 
have alleged, of the imperialist sympathies which, as the son of a 
former official of the Empire, he took no pains to conceal. At 
all events, he was anxious to see foreign service, and going to 
Greece, he fought there under Capo d'lstria. Later, however, he 
drifted into a life of adventures and shifts, a harum-scarum 
career in the East, in Italy, and in England, becoming at one 
moment a strolling player under the name of Florival, and at 
another earning some kind of a living as a fencing-master at 
Brighton. 

But on the establishment of the Orleans Monarchy St. 
Arnaud applied — as a victim of Bourbon vindictiveness — for 
reinstatement in the French army, and this he secured early in 
1831. He became orderly officer to General, afterwards Marshal 
Bugeaud, and his well-known hostility to the Bourbons (due, no 
doubt, to his early dismissal from the Royal Bodyguard), led to 
his being chosen to watch over the imprisoned Duchess de 
Berri after her failure to stir up insurrection in La Vendee. 
Later, he passed over to Algeria, where he rose to be a general of 
brigade, and whence, after a prearranged campaign against the 
Kabyles to enable him to distinguish himself (which he did by 
"smoking" natives in their caves, thus following Pelissier's 
example), he returned to France as one of the chosen instru- 
ments of Louis Napoleon's Coup d'Etat. Thin, pale, haggard, 
already suffering from an incurable malady, he looked the last 



32 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

man in the world for any such adventure, but he possessed an 
indomitable spirit, as many have testified. Later, when he was 
French generalissimo in the Crimea, the battle of the Alma 
gave him fame, and soon afterwards he died.* 

Marshal Magnan, who commanded the army of Paris at the 
Coup d'Etat and afterwards, was a man of different stamp. 
Tall, imperious, heavily whiskered, and loud-voiced, although 
originally a notary's clerk, he had enlisted as a private in the 
first Napoleon's time, and had fought at Waterloo ; but in 1831, 
on being sent as a colonel to quell an insurrection against Louis 
Philippe at Lyons, he acted so " mildly " that he was deprived 
of his command by the advice of Thiers and other ministers, 
whereupon, proceeding to Belgium, he took service there until 
he was reinstated in the French army in 1839. His exclusion 
from it, or at least from active service in it, had been a severe 
lesson, which was to recoil ultimately on those who had given it 
to him, for he was resolved that nobody should ever charge him 
with mildness and fear of bloodshed again. In 1848 he tried to 
save the monarchy, escorting the Duchess of Orleans to the 
Chamber of Deputies, in the hope of securing the proclamation 
of her young son as King. Later, he put down " Red " risings 
in Paris and Lyons with vigour, sparing nobody. 

Quite destitute of private means, but married, with a family 
of several children, he was, unfortunately, always in debt, which 
circumstance designated him to the attention of Louis Napoleon. 
One of the latter's emissaries had tried to secure Magnan's 
adherence to the cause already at the time of the Boulogne 
attempt in 1840, and it is said that Magnan then gave the envoy 
encouragement, but the evidence on the point is unsatisfactory, 
and at Louis Napoleon's trial by the Chamber of Peers, 
Mao-nan certainly protested that although he had been offered 
a bribe he had resolutely refused to take it. Pie showed himself 
less scrupulous at the time of the Coup d'Etat, for his services 
on which occasion he became, like St. Arnaud and Castellane, a 
marshal and a senator — the latter appointment alone meaning 
considerable addition to his income. Subsequently he was 
created Great Huntsman, the duties of which office he never 

* We shall have occasion to speak of the St. Arnaud-Cornemuse affair 
hereafter. 



MEN OF THE COUP D'ETAT ^3. 

really performed, though he carefully pocketed the large salary 
attached to it. Nevertheless, he was never able to extricate 
himself from his debts, a large part of which Napoleon III. 
discharged after his death. 

All the foregoing men being well known to the new Emperor, 
he selected none of them to organize and direct his Court, nor 
did he choose the two boldest members of his band, men whose 
venturesome audacity exceeded even that of St. Arnaud and 
Magnan. These were Persigny and Fleury. Even as St. 
Arnaud's original name had been Leroy, so Persigny's had been 
Fialin. But there was this difference : the former had been 
legally entitled to his new name since 1840, whereas the second 
was not legally Persigny till he was created Duke de Persigny 
by Napoleon III. The Fialin family was, however, an old one 
of Dauphine, which had passed first into the Lyonnais and later 
into Forez. According to a work on the last-named province,* 
Persigny's grandfather sold several of his fiefs in 1749, but 
retained the manor of Persigny in the parish of Cremeaux ; and, 
though the father and the uncle of the third Napoleon's acolyte 
were simply called Fialin, the former possession of the Persigny 
fief was held to justify a change of appellation. 

Jean Gilbert Victor Fialin de Persigny, as he claimed to be, 
was born in 1808. His father, according to some accounts, was 
a provincial Receiver for the Treasury under the first Empire, 
and according to others he was killed fighting at the battle 
of Salamanca in 1812. In any case the future adherent of 
Napoleon III. was brought up by an uncle, passed through 
the cavalry school of Saumur, and became a non-commissioned 
officer of Hussars. But after being dismissed the army for 
alleged "republicanism," he soon blossomed forth as a zealous 
Bonapartist, recruited a number of adherents to the cause, and 
helped to organize Louis Napoleon's attempts at Strasburg and 
Boulogne.f Briefly, he exerted himself in all ways and on all 
occasions in the interest of the future Emperor. He was to 
have been Minister of the Interior at the Coup d'Etat, but 
almost at the last moment his somewhat harum-scarum audacity 
and the violence of some of his writings suggested that he 

* " Les Fiefs du Forez avant 1789," by D'Assier de Valenches. Paris, 1858. 
t The latter in conjunction with Count Orsi. 



34 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

might not be altogether acceptable to the bourgeoisie^ and thus, 
though he had already signed several drafts of the intended 
proclamations, his place was taken by Morny. When, however, 
the latter retired in 1852, Persigny succeeded him. Shortly 
afterwards he married Mile. Egle Ney de la Moskowa, then barely 
out of her teens, on which occasion Louis Napoleon made him 
a private present of ^£'20,000. The bride and bridegroom seemed 
very much attached to each other at first, and Persigny was freely 
twitted for neglecting official duties and ceremonies in order to 
hide himself away with his young wife. But stormy days ensued, 
for the lady developed a trying temper and eccentric inclinations.* 
Persigny held office as minister and ambassador (in London) 
at various periods of the Empire, and became in course of time 
the determined adversary of Rouher, whose superior in shrewd- 
ness he undoubtedly was, though he failed to supplant him, 
and repeatedly found his private advice to the Emperor treated 
with neglect. To Persigny's credit it may be said that he was 
one of the very first to apprehend the dire consequences of the 
Franco-German war, and the errors made in the disposition of 
the French forces. f 

Emile Felix Fleury, whom Napoleon III. made a count, a 
general and an ambassador, was as audacious as Persigny, but in 
his earlier years more of a man of pleasure. His father had 
amassed a handsome fortune in trade, but the property, he tells 
us in his " Souvenirs," was squandered by his mother, who, 
after his father''s death, married a man of title. Fleury 
acknowledges that he took to dissipated courses when he was 
young, and that he was at last constrained to enlist as a private 
in the Spahis. It was Persigny who first presented him to 
Louis Napoleon in London in or about 1838. Eleven years 
later he became the Prince's orderly officer, and it was he who 
recruited the services of St. Arnaud, Magnan, and other strong- 
handed men, for the purposes of the Coup d'Etat. After the 
proclamation of the Empire, Fleury was appointed First 

* Ten months after Persigny's death there was a scandalous lawsuit 
between her and her mother, the Princess de la Moskowa, who vainly tried to 
prevent her from marrying a young advocate named Lemoyne. She did so, 
however, and after his death married yet again, surviving till 1890, when she 
died at Cannes. 

t He died at Nice, in January, 1872. 



MEN OF THE COUP D'ETAT 35 

Equerry, and higher distinctions followed during the ensuing 
years. His diplomatic services were by no means despicable ; 
he negotiated the meeting between Napoleon III. and Francis 
Joseph of Austria, which led to the armistice of Villafranca 
in 1859; he also had a good deal to do with the cession of 
V'enetia to Italy in 1866. Later he was sent specially to Victor 
Emmanuel to prevent an Italian advance on Rome ; and sub- 
sequently as Ambassador in Russia he sent valuable if futile 
warnings to France concerning the policy of Bismarck. Fleury 
possessed, however, one talent in particular — he was as good a 
judge of horseflesh as could be found anywhere. The Emperor's 
stables were, therefore, placed under his control, and he made 
them famous. 

Altogether there is no doubt that he was an able man, with 
less cause to blush for his past than some others. His years 
of dissipation, as he himself calls them, were brief. Long before 
he entered Louis Napoleon's service he had been wounded three 
times in action, and mentioned five times in orders of the 
day — thus he was no craven. Again, his marriage with Mile. 
Josephine Galley de St. Paul (whose father was long prominently 
connected with the Ministry of the Interior) proved extremely 
happy, for he became a model husband. Tall, fair, and pre- 
possessing in appearance, ever bright, affable and ready, even 
after the hardest day's work, he won the good opinion of many 
who by no means shared his strong political views. He and 
Mocquard, Napoleon's Chef-de-cabinet, knew virtually all the 
Emperor's private secrets, and it became necessary for Fleury 
to intervene more than once in the affaires de femmes in which 
his imperial master entangled himself. That was one of the 
unfortunate obligations of his position, and he at least en- 
deavoured to act tactfully in such matters. 

All the men who have been passed in review, were either 
soldiers at the time of the Coup d'Etat or had previously 
seen service. In constituting the Imperial Household Napo- 
leon III. chose a soldier for the chief ornamental position, that 
of " Great Marshal of the Court," held in his uncle's time by 
Duroc. However, he rightly placed the supreme management 
in the hands of one whom he knew to be an expert financier, 
that is his recent Minister of Finances, Achille Fould, 



36 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

previously a partner in the banking firm of Benoit, Fould & Co. 
It had originally been intended to ask the Senate for a Civil 
List of =£'480,000 per annum, a figure which Fould favoured ; 
but Persigny, who was one of the hungry men of the imperalist 
band, felt that such a sum would be quite inadequate, and by 
an ingenious stratagem, involving the telling of a barefaced lie 
(frankly admitted in his " Memoirs "), he contrived that the 
amount should be increased to one million sterling. In after- 
years, says he, the Emperor often expressed to him his gratitude 
for his action, exclaiming : " What should I have done if 
merely the amount originally proposed had been granted ! " 

After all, a million sterling was the sum which had been 
agreed upon in the case of Louis XVI. at the earlier period of 
the Revolution, and subsequently adopted for Louis XVIII., 
Charles X., and Louis Philippe. In addition, there was the 
dotation or endowment of the Crown, estimated to represent 
£200,000 per annum. This dotation included first the palaces 
of the Tuileries, the Elysee, the Louvre, and the Palais Royal, 
with a house in the Rue de Rivoli, a mansion on the Place 
Vendome, and stables in the Rue Montaigne; secondly, the 
palaces, chateaux, and other buildings, land, farms, woods and 
forests of the state domains of Versailles, Marly, St. Cloud, 
Meudon, St. Germain-en-Laye, Compiegne, Fontainebleau, 
Rambouillet, Pau, and Strasbourg, to which were added pro- 
perties at Villeneuve TEtang, near St. Cloud, and La Mothe- 
Beuvron and La Grilliere in Sologne, which the Emperor had 
previously arranged to purchase privately, and which the law- 
required to be included in the general endowment. Thirdly, 
the dotation embraced the state porcelain manufactory of 
Sevres, and the tapestry works of the Gobelins and Beauvais, 
the Garde Meuble or state furniture depository at the He des 
Cygnes on the Seine, and the woods or forests of Vincennes, 
Senart, Dourdan,and Laigue. Large as the dotation may seem, 
it was less considerable than it had been in Louis Philippe's 
time, when it had further embraced all the Orleans private 
property, the revenue then being quite .£280,000. 

As " Ministre de la Maison de FEmpereur," Fould had every 
household matter under his financial control, and exercised 
supreme authority over all buildings, estates, furnishings, 



THE NEW COURT 37 

imperial libraries, museums and manufactories, as well as over 
the Paris Opera-house, the administration of which was at that 
period vested in the Crown. Fould also dealt with all the 
many horse-racing, exhibition, and other prizes given by the 
Emperor, with all applications for pensions, the appointment 
of all purveyors to the Emperor, and the granting of such 
privileges as the Crown could accord. 

Eould was a man of very abrupt, curt ways, one who soon 
sent importunate solicitors to the rightabout, and who dis- 
charged his duties with zealous care. Prior to the Coup d'Etat 
he had rendered an important service to the Emperor or Prince 
Louis Napoleon, as he then was. The Prince had contracted a 
good many debts, notably in England,* and his adversaries 
wished to secure his unpaid acceptances and create a scandal, 
such as might damage him badly and even lead to his arrest 
for debt. A certain English printer and publisher heard, 
however, of what was brewing and communicated with Plon, the 
eminent French publisher, who was a warm Bonapartist and 
issued Louis Napoleon's writings. It thus happened that while 
the agent of the Cavaignac party, a certain Fillineau, was 
haggling with the holders of the unpaid bills, Plon conveyed 
the information he had received to Fould, whom he knew well, 
and Fould, forestalling the dilatory Fillineau, purchased the 
acceptances and tendered them to Louis Napoleon without any 
question of payment. 

However, in spite of Fould's high ability and strictness of 
management as Minister of the Household, the Civil List was 
soon in debt. The constitution of endowments for various 
members of the imperial family and the expenses of the 
Emperor's marriage in 1853 resulted in a deficit of .£'280,000. 
When Fould resigned in 1860, the amount owing by the Civil 
List was still nearly .£'215,000, and throughout the reign the 
indebtedness was never extinguished. At the fall of the Empire 
it again stood at the figure of 1853, and was only met by the 
sale of all sorts of property.f 

* For the purposes of the Coup d'Efcat he borrowed £20,000 of the Spanish 
Marshal Narvaez. His raistress, Miss Howard, also helped him financially 
about that time, and others gave similar assistance. 

t Alphonse Gautier's " La Liste Civile en France " — the authoritative 



S8 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

The Constitution formally provided for the creation of a 
jointure or dower in the event of the Emperor marrying ; but 
the Empress Eugenie repeatedly refused to allow that provision 
to be made, for she had no desire for personal wealth; and 
Napoleon IH., in a like spirit, declined any special allow- 
ance for the Imperial Prince. But the other members of the 
imperial family were very handsomely treated. Capital sums 
amounting to .£480,000 were distributed among them, in 
addition to annual allowances. Apart from those made 
officially to the Jerome branch of the Bonapartes, whose 
members being in the appointed line of succession to the throne 
ranked as Imperial Highnesses, a large number of grants were 
made to the other Princes, Princesses, and family connections. 
We shall refer to them in some detail hereafter,* and for the 
moment it need only be mentioned that throughout the 
duration of the Empire from <£'45,000 to ^£'50,000 were paid 
annually to relatives and connections (Bonapartes, Murats, 
Baciocchis, Primolis, Gabriellis, e tutti quanti) out of the Civil 
List. This, too, was in addition to special presents at times 
when these relatives or connections were in pecuniary difficulties, 
owing to their ridiculous extravagance. It was often not 
incumbent on the Emperor to make those allowances, but he 
was a genuine oncle cfAmerique^ as one says in Paris, an ideal 
" rich relation,"" with an ever-open purse. 

But let us pursue our review of the Civil List. A sum of 
,£^240,000 a year was apportioned among the various branches 
of the Imperial Household : the departments of the Great 
Almoner, the Great Marshal of the Palace, the Great 
Chamberlain, the Great Equerry, the Great Huntsman, and 
the Great Master of Ceremonies. The expenses included not 
only the salaries of the aforementioned officers of State and 
their assistants and servants, but all the outlay attendant on 
living, linen, plate, horses, carriages, balls, receptions, theatrical 
performances, the chapel and chamber music services, the 
medical attendance to the Crown and the Emperor''3 Private 
Cabinet. Next a sum of ^£'480,000 was devoted to the repair 

work on the subject. M. Gautier was the general secretary of the Imperial 
Household. 

* See ;post, Chapter IX., p. 209 ct seg. 



THE NEW COURT 39 

or upkeep of the palaces and other buildings, manufactories, 
libraries, agricultural establishments, forests and estates of the 
dotation — this being .£'280,000 more than the dotation yielded 
in revenue. Further, ^£'240,000 were allotted annually for 
grants, gifts, or pensions — to the aforementioned members 
or connections of the imperial family, to old servants of the 
First Empire, to members of the clergy and army, scientists, 
literary men and artists, workmen also, and particularly 
inventors, the latter receiving during the reign very consider- 
able sums of money as well as other support. This was one 
of the good traits of the third Napoleon's character ; he 
willingly received and encouraged inventors, and never wearied 
of doing so, though more than one tried to impose upon him. 
Another source of expense was the Imperial Bodyguard, known 
as the Cent-Gardes, which cost the Civil List from dS'lSjOOO to 
<£*! 6,000 per annum over and beyond a War Office grant of 
.£12,000. Further, the Grand Opera (Rue Le Peletier) cost 
between .£8000 and £12,000 each year from 1854 to 1866, at 
which latter date the management was detached from the 
Household, Nevertheless the Emperor afterwards granted a 
private subvention of .£4000, by way, said he, of " paying for 
his box."" Again, in the one year, 1867 — the great year of the 
first Champ de Mars Universal Exhibition — a sum of £48,000 
was spent on entertaining foreign sovereigns and princes, over 
and beyond the usual outlay of the Court. 

Under Fould, the Minister, but otherwise at the head of 
the Household, was the Great Marshal of the Palace, Marshal 
and Senator Count Vaillant. In 1860, when Fould resigned, 
the two offices were united, Vaillant becoming Minister as well 
as Great Marshal.* He was an able man, a Burgundian, born 
in 1790, and had begun his career as an officer of engineers 
under the first Napoleon. He had participated in the retreat 
from Moscow, and had fought at the battles of Paris (when he 
was wounded), of Ligny and of Waterloo. He afterwards took 
part in the expedition to Algiers — indeed it was he who blew 
up the so-called " Fort de TEmpereur," thereby compelling the 
Dey to surrender to Marshal Bourmont. Subsequently, in 

* The Ministry of Fine Arts, under the superintendence of Count da 
Nieuwerkerke,, was then attached to that of the Imperial Household, 



40 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

conjunction with Dode de la Brunerie, Vaillant directed the 
erection of the fortifications of Paris, all the part north of the 
Seine being his work. He afterwards became President of 
the Comite des Fortifications for the whole of France, and he 
was the real director of the siege of Rome in 1849. A zealous 
Bonapartist, bearing in his heart the memory of the great 
Napoleon who had decorated him on the battlefield, Vaillant 
naturally proved a warm partisan of the restoration of the 
Empire, but we do not find that he took any active part in the 
Coup d'Etat, although he soon afterwards received his Marshal's 
baton from Louis Napoleon. At all events, nobody ever 
breathed a word against Vaillant's personal honour. He did 
not, in his later years, evince much affability or graciousness, 
but he was a man to whom no princely visitor or diplomatic 
envoy could possibly take objection. He was, moreover, 
learned alike in mathematics and the natural sciences, being a 
member of both the Academie des Sciences and the Bureau des 
Longitudes, as well as President of the Societies of Protection 
to Animals, Acclimatisation and Horticulture. Roses were his 
particular passion, and he promoted the raising of several new 
varieties. 

A man who loves flowers can hardly be a bad one. Nor 
was Vaillant. His different offices gave him an income of over 
cflOjOOO a year, but he spent so much of the money on scientific 
or semi-scientific pursuits, all more or less useful in their way, 
that one could scarcely reproach him with the high figure of 
his emoluments. He was a good and careful steward of the 
Imperial Household, and at times he remonstrated successfully 
with the Emperor respecting the latter's " impulsive and incon- 
venient acts of munificence." The Duke de Conegliano, a 
prominent official of the Imperial Court, relates that in 1862 
the Emperor desired that the Civil List should immediately 
provide £32,000 for some particular purpose. Vaillant replied 
that this could not possibly be done, but observing how vexed 
the Emperor appeared, he straightway lodged a number of his 
own securities with his bankers as security for a loan of the 
required amount, and carried out the Emperor''s wishes. 
Napoleon III. heard indirectly of the Marshal's action, and 
going up to him on leaving the palace chapel on the following 



THE NEW COURT 41 

Sunday, he exclaimed : " What ! Marshal, are you ruining 
yourself in my service, as you have to borrow money of your 
bankers ? "" Then, pressing the old soldier's hand, he added : 
" I must certainly set my finances in order ; I shall keep it in 
mind." Whether he did so or not, however, the Civil List, as 
we have previously mentioned, was never out of debt. 

Vaillanfs office as Great Marshal included the military 
command of the household and of all the imperial palaces, the 
exercise of a general supervision over them, the distribution of 
quarters to guests, officers and servants, the kitchen, table, 
heating and lighting services, the plate, linen, liveries, and so 
forth. The salary of this particular office was d£'2000 a year, 
with free quarters and table. Immediately under the Great 
Marshal was the Adjutant-general, this being General Alexandre 
Rolin, who had acted as aide-de-camp of Count Gerard, and had 
seen service under Napoleon I. Rolin held office at the Tuileries 
until he died in 1869, when he was succeeded by General de 
Courson. The Adjutant-general, whose Court salary was .f'lSOO 
a year, with free quarters and table, transmitted the Emperor's 
orders to all general-officers or officers of State; he acted also 
as chief of the Sovereign's staff at all reviews ; and the Colonel 
of the Cent-Gardes and the Chief of the Palace Police were 
under his immediate orders. General Rolin was a very amiable 
and obliging man, with whom the present writer's family often 
came in contact. 

The Prefects of the Palace were civil officers under the Great 
Marshal's control. There were originally four of them, each 
receiving £400 a year, and they did duty in rotation, for a 
week at a time in Paris, and for a month when the Court was 
elsewhere. Among those who filled these prefectoral offices at 
various times were Counts de Lawoestine and Merle, Barons 
Morio de I'lsle, de Menneval, de Maussion, de Varaigne-Dubourg 
and de Montbrun — the last named being a son of the first 
Napoleon's famous cavalry general. There was also a quarter- 
master-accountant, M. Bidos, who received .£'400 a year with 
free quarters and board. Of the other quartermasters {rnarechaux 
de log'is)^ who prepared apartments for guests, and exercised 
supervision over the furniture and other appointments of the 
imperial residences, for which purpose they attended the Court 



42 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

not only at the Tuileries, but also at St. Cloud, Compiegne, 
and its other places of sojourn, the chief was Colonel, later General 
Count Lepic, aide-de-camp to the Emperor. As First Mare- 
cJial de Logis he received ^£'800 a year, and he had four assistants 
with salaries of £S20 under him. Count Lepic, who afterwards 
became Superintendent of the Imperial Palaces, was a man of 
great artistic taste (which he transmitted to his son, the 
painter), learned, moreover, in all questions of furniture, 
tapestry, and other hangings, and under his direction the 
private apartments of the Empress became extremely beautiful. 
Major Oppenheim, one of Lepic's subordinates, was likewise a 
man of great artistic taste and perception, notably with respect 
to bibelots and china. 

Although the palace kitchens and cellars were in the Great 
Marshal's department, it is preferable, perhaps, that we should 
speak of them elsewhere, in connection with the State banquets 
of the Court, and we may here pass to the "Service de la 
Chambre."" The Great Chamberlain (with a salary of c^lGOO a 
year, free residence and table) was the Duke de Bassano, the 
son of the first Napoleon's Foreign Secretary, Maret. Tall and 
slim, carrying himself very erect, M. de Bassano looked a 
striking figure in his richly embroidered scarlet coat and plumed 
cocked hat, with the gold key of his office depending from 
a chain formed of gold and green acorns. He had served 
as French Minister at Baden and Brussels, and was married 
to a Belgian lady, who became one of the Empress's dames 
d'honneur. All applications for audiences came before M. de 
Bassano, who after preparing a list of them submitted it to 
the Emperor. The latter then marked the names, indicating 
those applicants whom he would receive personally, and those 
whom one or another official was to see on his behalf. 

More numerous were the duties of M. de Bassano's nominal 
subordinate, the First Chamberlain, Count Marius Joseph 
Baciocchi, who was a connection of the Bonapartes through the 
first Napoleon's sister Elisa. Born in Corsica in 1803, Count 
Baciocchi had married a lady of that island, a member of the 
famous Pozzo di Borgo family. He occupied a small suite of 
rooms, decorated with a nice collection of pictures, on the 
ground floor of the Tuileries; and he, his secretary Bertora, 



THE NEW COURT 4.3 

and his valet and factotum Nicolas, were besieged every 
morning by artists, authors, actors, dancers and vocalists, for 
all the artistic side of the Court, and notably its theatrical 
patronage and the superintendence of the Opera, etc., were in 
Baciocchi's department. It was his duty to attend every first 
performance given in Paris, and to report on it to the Emperor 
or the Empress. An easy-going, good-natured man, Baciocchi 
was extremely partial to the stage, and also to pretty actresses ; 
but as time elapsed he became bloated and unwieldy, afflicted 
also, says the Duke de Conegliano, with a disorder which 
kept him perpetually on the move, in such wise that he could 
no longer sit down of an afternoon to play his favourite game 
of piquet at the Cercle Imperial, and those who interviewed him 
had to pace up and down the room by his side. 

In addition to the Great and the First Chamberlains there 
were at first eight, and eventually twelve, others, each of whom 
was in receipt of £4^80 a year. Among those who thus held 
office during the reign there were not only numerous members 
of the Imperialist noblesse, but also several scions of the old 
French aristocracy, who went over to the Empire often to the 
great disgust of the Faubourg St. Germain, where the cult of 
the Legitimist Monarchy was piously preserved. Among the 
third Napoleon''s chamberlains one found, then, not merely such 
Bonapartist names as Macdonald, Duke of Tarento, Count 
d'Ornano, De Labedoyere, and Moncey, Duke of Conegliano, 
but such others as Marquis de Chaumont, Marquis de Gricourt, 
Marquis de Belmont, Marquis d'Havrincourt, Count de Rien- 
court, Count d'Ayguesvives, Viscount Walsh and Viscount de La 
Ferriere. The last named, an ex-hussar officer and a very hand- 
some and courteous man, has, since those days, made himself a 
high literary reputation by his historical writings. He served, 
we remember, at one time as chamberlain to the Empress, and 
was promoted to Baciocchi's post after the latter's death in 
1866. 

There will be occasion to speak of the officials of the 
Emperor"'s Private Cabinet in describing the usual course of the 
sovereign^'s daily life. Those officials were only nominally under 
the control of the Great Marshal and the Great Chamberlain. 
The palace ushers, however, should be mentioned here. The 



M THE COURT, OF THE TUILERIES 

chief one, who always took the head of the imperial cortege to 
announce the Emperor, was a tall, finely built man named 
Thovex, in receipt of =£'196 a year. He had ten subordinates, 
whose wages ranged from =£^100 to dfi'llO, with allowances for 
quarters. The Emperor's private usher, Felix Werwoort, who 
had followed him from England, and who, by the way, always 
carved for him at dinner, received as much as £M0 per annum, 
but then he was quite a confidential servant. The wages of the 
valets-de-chanibre (six of the first and six of the second class) 
ranged from £^80 to =£100; while £^^ was the stipend of the 
chief of the gargons cTappartement^ who had eight men under 
him. 

Besides the servants already mentioned there were eight 
suisses, who with powdered hair, cocked hats with green and 
white plumes, red baldricks and short side-swords, stood at the 
doors of the chief rooms in the palace, and struck the floor with 
their staves while exclaiming aloud, " The Emperor ! " " The 
Empress ! " " The Imperial Prince ! " whenever one or the other 
passed in or out. Then, too, there was the little army of 
footmen, forty, divided into two classes, with four brigadiers at 
their head. The suisses received £10, the brigadiers of the 
footmen £1^, and the footmen themselves, according to their 
class, from ^£'58 to £63 a year. Very splendid looked the footmen 
on gala occasions, with their powdered hair, their gallooned and 
plumed hats e7i bataille, their green coats a la frangaise with 
gold on every seam, their gallooned scarlet waistcoats and 
breeches, their gold garters, their white-silk stockings and their 
patent-leather shoes with buckles again of gold. 

Another branch of the Imperial Household was that of the 
Great Master of Ceremonies, the Duke de Cambaceres, a nephew 
of the Archchancellor of the First Napoleon''s Empire. Tall, 
thin, clean-shaven and solemn, the Duke was the very man for 
his post. With some assistance from Fleury he regulated all 
the ceremonial at the imperial wedding, the baptism of the 
Imperial Prince, the State receptions of Queen Victoria and 
other sovereigns and royalties, the presentation of the Golden 
Rose to the Empress Eugenie, and the conferring of birettas on 
various French cardinals appointed by Pius IX. He was 
also to the fore whenever addresses were presented by the 



THE NEW COURT 45 

Legislature and other public bodies. With a large private 
fortune of his own and a wealthy young wife of boiirgeois birth, 
who was as short, as lively and as amiable as he was long, frigid 
and severe, M. de Cambaceres, besides being lodged by the 
crown, received .£'1600 a year for his services. 

Under him was a First Master of Ceremonies, Count 
Rodolphe d'Ornano* (salary <£'800), and several subordinate 
masters, assistant-masters, and secretaries, among the first 
being Baron Feuillet de Conches, chief of the Protocole at the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also — as testified by his many 
writings and compilations — a most fervent, zealous admirer of 
Marie- Antoinette, to which circumstance, in particular, he owed 
the favour of the Empress Eugenie. M. Feuillet de Conches 
retained office after the fall of the regime, becoming Introducer 
of Ambassadors to both Thiers and MacMahon. 

The Emperor's Military Household was composed of a 
Commander and several aides-de-camp and orderly officers. 
The aides-de-camp, who were generals of divisional or brigade 
rank — or occasionally vice-admirals — received £480 per annum 
for their attendance on the sovereign, which, as the-"e were 
always four (and at times six) in office, and each performed a 
week''s duty in rotation, did not cover a period of more than 
three months in any year. The position of the Commander of 
the Military Household was permanent, however, being held 
from 1852 till 1865 by General Count Roguet, originally an 
officer of engineers and son of a distinguished soldier of the 
First Empire. General Roguet was in attendance on the 
Emperor on the occasion of Orsini and Pierri's attempt at 
assassination, and was somewhat seriously wounded by one of 
the bombs which were then thrown. He belonged essentially 
to the inner circle of the Tuileries, being one of the men in 
whom Napoleon placed most confidence, and his services were 
rewarded with a senatorship and the rank of Grand Officer of 
the Legion of Honour. 

Three officers who became Marshals of France f were aides- 
de-camp to the Emperor at one or another time. These, to 

* The son of Countess Walewska (sometime mistress of Napoleon I.), by 
her second marriage. See ante, p, 27. 

t For the Marshals generally, see post, p. 345 et seg. 



46 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

give their names in order of merit, were Niel, Canrobert, and 
Leboeuf. It was the first named (originally an engineer officer) 
who adopted the Chassepot rifle, and armed the French infantry 
with it, besides devising the force known as the Garde Mobile, 
which, however, owing to his untimely death, was not organized 
as he had intended it should be. Canrobert's name is more 
familiar, perhaps, to most readers on account of his survival 
until comparatively recent times, and of his prominence in the 
Crimea, where he succeeded St. Arnaud. Originally a light 
infantry and zouave officer, he was noted for his dash and 
zest, but he was a much overrated man, deficient in the ability 
required for high command. His appearance was eccentric, 
for he had a short figure and a big head, which looked all the 
larger owing to the mass of long hair waving around it. 
Canrobert often showed himself to be a rattling raconteur, but 
his language was usually better suited to a guardroom than a 
salon by reason of the unnecessary expletives with which he 
interlarded what he said. He was married to a lady much 
younger than himself, a Macdonald, who rightly ranked as one 
of the beauties of the Empire. Leboeuf, the third Marshal 
whom we have named, became War Minister, and a little later 
"Major-General" of the Army of the Rhine, for neither of 
which offices he was fitted. But he was a superb-looking man, 
with wonderful moustaches, and it should be acknowledged 
that he was a clever artillerist. He ought never to have left 
that branch of the service. 

Among other aides-de-camp to the Emperor were General 
Count de Goyon (who at one time commanded the French 
army of occupation at Rome), Generals Lannes de Montebello, 
Count Pajol (in attendance at Sedan), de Castelnau, and Mollard. 
The last named, a native of Savoy, had a very distinguished 
record in the Sardinian service, having commanded a brigade 
both at the Tchernaya in the Crimea, and at Solferino in 1859, 
when with a handful of men he for several hours kept some 
thousands of Austrians under Benedek at bay. Mollard was 
largely instrumental in promoting the annexation of Savoy to 
France, and became a French senator as well as a Grand Officer 
of the Legion of Honour.* 

* He was a near relative of the present writer's wife. In 1870, despite his 



THE NEW COURT 47 

Another notable aide-de-camp of the Emperor's was General 
Fave, a distinguished scientist, who (like Reffye) had much to do 
with the invention of the mitrailleuse and the general transforma- 
tion of the French artillery. He also largely assisted Napoleon in 
writing the Life of Caesar. Then, too, General Felix Douay, 
who commanded the 7th Army Corps at Sedan — the corps 
whose fortunes are chronicled in the novel "La Debacle"" — had 
served for a time as an imperial aide-de-camp. So too had 
Frossard, the beaten commander at Forbach in 1870, before he 
became (in 1867) Governor to the Imperial Prince.* So also 
had M. de Failly, who defeated Garibaldi at Mentana — when, 
said he, " the chassepots did wonders " — and who in his turn was 
routed at Beaumont just before Sedan. Again, among the ex- 
aides-de-camp to the Emperor, one finds the unlucky Bourbaki, 
who commanded the Army of the East during the latter part of 
the Franco-German War ; while yet another who became pro- 
minent at that time, as commander of the 12th Army Corps, 
was Lebrun, a diminutive, simple, modest, hard-working man, 
who fought gallantly at Bazeilles, and whose revelations during 
these later years have proved that although Prussia may have 
forced on the war in 1870, France and Austria fully intended to 
attack her early in the following year, by which date their 
armies were to have been ready. It was as Napoleon's aide-de- 
camp and secret envoy that Lebrun entered into all the arrange- 
ments at Vienna. Finally, among the notable aides-de-camp 
to be mentioned in connection with the war was Count Reille, 
who carried the Emperor's letter of surrender to the King of 
Prussia, on whom he had been in attendance in Paris in 1867. 
Such is the irony of fate. 

Plentiful as were the aides-de-camp who became conspicuous 
in 1870-71, only three, inclusive of Canrobert, had figured 
prominently in the Coup d'Etat. The other two were Espinasse 
and Beville. The former, who then seized the Palais Bourbon, 
became Minister of the Interior and General Safety after the 

advanced age, Moliard again took service, and placed Grenoble in a state of 
defence. 

* Frossard was in many respects a very able man, and his defeat in 1870 
was due, we believe, far more to the scattering of the French forces, and the 
lack of support which he had a right to expect, than to any personal incom- 
petence for command. 



48 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Orsini affair, when his harshness made him so unpopulfir on all 
sides that his death at Magenta a year afterwards seemed a 
positive deliverance. General Baron de Beville, for his part, 
had occupied the National Printing Works at the Coup d'Etat, 
and directed, in conjunction with St. Georges, the printing of 
Louis Napoleon''s proclamations. In addition to a military 
position beside the Emperor, Beville became chief of the 
private topographical service. Among the naval aides-de-camp 
one need only record the name of Vice- Admiral Jurien de la 
Graviere, sometime Minister of Marine, but best remembered, 
perhaps, as a writer on naval history and warfare. 

The Emperor's orderly officers were selected from among 
captains in the army set down for promotion. They usually 
served two years in the Imperial Household, which they quitted 
with a step in rank. On appointment they received <£'400 for 
an outfit, and besides the ordinary pay of officers of their rank 
stationed in Paris, they had an annual salary of £SW and were 
lodged and boarded when on duty. Each, however, was required 
to provide two horses of his own. Many distinguished names 
are to be found in the long list of Napoleon''s orderlies : 
Cambriels, Berckheim, Espeuilles, Aubigny, Ney d'Elchingen, 
Clermont - Tonnerre, La Tour d'Auvergne, Friant, Quelen, 
Excelmans, Schmitz, Verchere de Reffye, Stoffel, and last but 
not least, Galliffet. 

It was Captain, eventually General, Schmitz who attended 
Napoleon HI. in Italy and brought back and presented to the 
Empress Eugenie, in solemn audience, the various Austrian 
flags taken at Magenta and Solferino ; whereupon, in accord- 
ance with State ceremonial, she rewarded him for his mission 
with what was officially styled an accolade, vulgo a kiss. He 
was, we believe, the only man so distinguished during the reign. 
Schmitz also served as Chief of the Staff to Cousin-Montauban 
(otherwise Palikao) in China, when the Summer Palace was 
looted ; and during the siege of Paris in 1870 he became General 
Trochu's right-hand man. Verchere de Reffye for his part 
became director of the Meudon artillery- works and the inventor 
or perfecter of mitrailleuses, breech-loading and rifled guns, 
besides assisting his imperial master with the latter''s Life of 
Cassar. Stoffel is best remembered as French military attache 



THE NEW COURT 49 

at Berlin, whence he forwarded to Paris such valuable but 
unheeded reports respecting the military progress of Prussia. 
As for the Marquis de Galliffet, Prince de Martig^ies, his 
service as an Imperial orderly dated from the early sixties after 
he had won a captaincy in the Spahis in Algeria. He quitted 
the Court when he volunteered for service in Mexico, where, 
as we shall presently have occasion to relate — in his own words 
— he was very seriously wounded by an exploding shell. That, 
however, as we all know, did not prevent M. de Galliffet from 
resuming duty, and subsequently participating in — we do not 
say commanding — the great cavalry charge at the battle of 
Sedan. That the Marquis had a sound constitution and much 
physical vigour was shown already in his early years by his 
ardour in the pursuit of pleasure. Of average height, with an 
elegant figure, and a bright face, almost as full of colour as 
MacMahon's, he was indefatigable both as a rider and a dancer, 
and could sit up night after night, playing cards, and supping 
at matutinal hours, without, to quote a popular expression, 
" turning so much as a hau\" His wife, a woman of most gentle 
and amiable disposition, was one of the chief beauties of the 
Empire, and, after the Empress herself, one of the foremost 
leaders of fashion of the time.* The marriage was not satis- 
factory, and eventually Mme. de Galliffet lived apart from her 
husband. 

In addition to the aides-de-camp and orderlies, the Emperor's 
military household included a cavalry corps, which, though 
known as the Ceut-Grardes, or " Hundred Guards," f was at no 
time of exactly that strength, its numbers having varied from 
54 to 208, or 221 inclusive of ostlers and farriers. The organizer 
of the corps was Lieut.-Colonel Count Lepic, Avho in 1859 was 
succeeded in the command by Major, later Colonel, Baron Verly, 
an officer of Creole origin, who had risen from the ranks in the 
Guides, and who, with his lofty figure, his martial face, and 
his splendid uniform, all aglitter with foreign decorations, was 
a conspicuous figure at the Tuileries until the war of 1870, 
when he accompanied his sovereign, and was taken prisoner at 
Sedan with three of his subordinate officers and half of the 

* See post, p. 275 et seq. 

t See ante, p. 39 ; and post, pp. 121 et seg_., and 130. 



50 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

1st squadron of the corps.* This was instituted by a succession 
of decrees in 1854, the quarters assigned to it being the Caserne 
de Pan them ont in the Rue de Bellechasse. The officers were 
twelve in number ; the chief commander received ^^^OO and the 
men =£'40 a year. The minimum stature necessary for incorpo- 
ration was fixed at about 5 feet 11 inches ; but although some 
of the men were 6 feet 2 inches, and even 6 feet 4 inches in 
height, it was at first difficult to recruit a sufficient number 
reaching the minimum figures, as only cavalry " non-coms." of 
the most irreproachable character were eligible. Eventually 
several drum-majors with cavalry experience were incorporated, 
as well as privates with good records. 

The men's duties were a great deal more arduous than was 
generally supposed by those who merely saw them escorting the 
Emperor, A detachment guarded the Tuileries inside and out 
every night, and the men were in constant requisition for 
reviews, public ceremonies, official receptions, imperial visits 
to the theatres, and journeys into the provinces. They attended 
the Emperor not only in 1870, but also during the war in Italy 
in 1859. They were helped with respect to the grooming of 
their horses, but their superb uniforms demanded close personal 
attention. These Cent-Gardes were, of course, quite distinct 
from the Imperial Guard, which was also instituted in 1854,t 
its first commander being Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely, and 
its last Bourbaki. The Guard was a mixed division of infantry, 
cavalry, and horse artillery — the first named including two 
regiments of Grenadiers, two of Voltigeurs, and one of Chas- 
seurs ; the second, a regiment of Cuirassiers, one of Horse- 
Gendarmes and one of Guides — hght cavalry of the Hussar 
type, but armed with carbines. 

These Guides were first organized and commanded by Count 
Fleury, who, as previously indicated, also held the office of First 
— and eventually of Great — Equerry to the Emperor, the higher 
post being originally assigned to Marshal St. Arnaud. It 
carried with it a salary of .£'1800 a year, with .£480 for expenses 
and residential quarters at the Louvre. $ St. Arnaud's duties 

* The other half, which escorted the Imperial Prince to the Belgian 
frontier, was commanded by Lieut, Watrin. 

t We mention it here, but it did not belong to the Household. 

X In the histories of the Second Empire it is frequently asserted that St. 



THE NEW COURT 51 

were merely nominal, all the work from the outset being done 
by Fleury * and his coadjutors, among whom was an English- 
man, Mr. Gamble, who was long in direct charge of the horses 
ridden by the Emperor personally. Respecting them and the 
splendid equipages of the Court we shall have something to say 
as our narrative proceeds. Among the equerries under Fleury 
were M, de Valabregue, who was in attendance on Napoleon III. 
when Pianori attempted the latter's life in the Champs Elysees ; 
M. Raimbeaux, who, when Berezowski fired at Czar Alex- 
ander II. in the Bois de Boulogne in 1867, rode forward to 
screen the monarch, and whose horse was thereupon shot through 
the nostrils ; Count Davillier, who was on duty at Sedan, Baron 
de Bourgoing, Baron Lejeune, Count de Castelbajac, Mr. de 
Burgh (an Irishman — perhaps of the Clanricarde family f), and 
the Marquis de Caux. 

The name of the last is well remembered from the fact that 
he became the first husband of Madame Adelina Patti, now 
Baroness Cederstrom. The Marquis de Caux, who when quite 
young inherited a large fortune, was of a very gay and impulsive 
disposition, and ran through most of his money in a few years. 
He thereupon turned to diplomacy for a livelihood, and was 
attached to the French embassies at Florence and Rome. After 
becoming an equerry to the Emperor, he added no little gaiety 
to the Court life. An expert dancer, he conducted the cotillons 
at the State balls during several successive seasons. It was his 
passion for music, and his consequent intimacy with the 
Strakosch family, Avhich led to his acquaintance with Madame 
Patti. At the time of their marriage, whatever the difference 
of fortune might be, there was every reason to believe that the 
union was one of genuine affection on both sides. But 
separation eventually came. 

Yet another branch of the Imperial Household which we 

Arnaud, like others, received £4000 a year for Ms Court post. That is quite 
erroneous. All the figures we give are the official ones as they are to he found 
in the Civil List. 

* Before he became Great Equerry he received £1200 a year, with a 
residence adjoining the Imperial stables in the Avenue Montaigne. 

t We have not been able to identify him fully. The Duke de Conegliano 
states that he was "honorary equerry," received £480 a year, and came to 
France from time to time to ride in State processions. 



52 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

must mention was that of the Venerie or Hunt. Though 
Marshal Magnan held the post of Great Huntsman, the duties 
were always discharged by Count Edgar Ney, who took Magnan''s 
place in 1855, and on the death of his elder brother two years 
later assumed by imperial decree the title of Prince de la 
Moskowa. The subordinate officers of the Huut (of which we 
shall have to speak in connection with the Court's sojourns at 
Compiegne, Fontainebleau, and elsewhere) were the Marquis 
de Toulongeon, Colonel Baron Lambert, the Marquis de la 
Tour Maubourg, the Baron de L^ge, and M. de la Rue. Prince 
Edgar de la Moskowa was a good-looking, unaffected man, on 
the most intimate terms with the Emperor, who invariably 
" thee'd " and " thou'd " him, and addressed him by his Christian 
name. 

We have yet to speak of both the Almonry and the Medical 
Service of the Court. Louis Napoleon's first chaplain — at the 
Elysee in 1848 — was Abbe Laisne, a curate of the Madeleine 
church. In 1853 the Emperor appointed Mgr. Menjaud, 
Bishop of Nancy, to be his First Almoner, and four years later 
a "Great Almoner or Archchaplain of the Imperial Chapel" 
was instituted by a Papal brief, the post being assigned to 
Archbishop Morlot of Paris, and later to his successor, Mgr. 
Darboy, the high-minded and unfortunate prelate who was 
murdered by the Paris Communards in 1871. Among the 
salaries attached to the Almonry and chapel services were the 
following: Great Almoner, .^'IGOO ; First Almoner, ^800; 
Almoner,* .^^SO ; chaplains (all canons of St. Denis and in 
receipt of salaries as such), d^240. Auber, the famous com- 
poser, also received .£'600 a year as Director of the Imperial 
Chapel and Chamber Music. He chose all the pieces which 
were to be executed, presided at all rehearsals, organized the 
concerts given at the Tuileries during Lent (when dancing was 
not allowed), and was very regular in his attendance at the 
palace chapel on Sunday mornings. 

From 1848 onwards the tall, ascetic-looking but devoted 

* This was Mgr. Tirmache, Bishop of Adras, who had known Louis 
Napoleon when the latter was a prisoner at Ham. It was Mgr. Tirmache 
who, in conjunction with Abh6 Laisne, actually discharged most ot the 
duties of the Almonry. 



THE NEW COURT 53 

Abbe Laisne, Vicar-general of the Imperial Chapel, acted as 
confessor to the Emperor, whom he accompanied to Italy in 
1859. In 1870, however, as he had then become Chaplain- 
general of the French Army, M. Laisne deputed his confessor- 
ship to Abbe Metairie, who followed the sovereign to Sedan, 
Napoleon always figured at divine service on Sunday mornings 
in full uniform, and attended by the officers of the Household. 
It was on his behalf that every year, on August 15 ("St. 
Napoleon's Day "), the Prefect of the Palace on duty presented 
the consecrated bread at mass at St. Germain TAuxerrois. the 
Tuileries parish church. It was then borne thither proces- 
sionally by footmen of the Household in gala liveries, preceded 
by ushers also in gala attire. 

The most notable clerics who preached before the Court 
in the Tuileries chapel were Fathers de Ravignan and Ventura, 
Archbishop Darboy, Mgr. Bauer, and Abbe Deguerry of the 
Madeleine.* Although Darboy was a learned theologian, his 
Court sermons were marked by great simplicity of diction, and 
imbued with a spirit of plain, straightforward Christianity, based 
on the teachirigs of the Gospels. No political allusion ever 
passed his lips, and all disputations were reserved for his private 
chats with Marshal Vaillant, who was somewhat of a free- 
thinker. 

The first physician of the Court Medical Service was Dr. 
Franpois Rene Conneau, the trusty friend who had attended 
Queen Hortense in her last moments and had enabled Louis 
Napoleon to effect his escape from the fort of Ham. Born at 
Milan, Conneau married a Corsican lady of the Pasqualini 
family, and their son, brought up at the Tuileries, became the 
playmate and friend of the Imperial Prince. Conneau's own 
medical attainments were not of the highest order, as he himself 
freely acknowledged, saying that it was more as a friend than 
as a doctor that he remained beside the Emperor. However, 
he fully organized the medical service, in which he enlisted 
some of the ablest men of the time. Adjoined to him, and 
residing also at the Tuileries, was Dr. Baron Corvisart (a 
great nephew of the first Napoleon''s medical attendant), who 

* The last named was murdered at the same time as Darboy, by the 
Communards of 1871. 



54 THE COURT OP THE TUILERIES 

accompanied the Emperor during the campaign of 1870, and 
was one of the three men in close attendance on the despairing 
monarch when, riding forth from Sedan to La Monceile, he 
advanced beyond the brick and tile works there, into the open, 
shell-swept space, where he long but vainly courted death. 
The two who accompanied Napoleon and Corvisart were General 
Count Pajol, aide-de-camp, and Count Davillier, first equerry. 
The escort was formed of Cent-Gardes. As will be remem- 
bered, both Corvisart and Conneau were present when the 
Emperor died at Chislehurst. 

The Medical Service also included four physicians and 
surgeons in ordinary, each receiving £3^0 a year, among them 
being (at one or another time) Arnal, Andral, Darralde, Fauvel, 
Baron Larrey, and Nelaton. There were also six honorary 
consulting physicians and surgeons, including Bouillaud, Levy, 
Ricord, See, Velpeau and Tardieu — celebrities of the healing 
art. Then, after the imperial marriage, Dr. Baron Paul Dubois, 
son of the Dubois who attended Marie Louise at the birth of 
the King of Rome, was appointed surgeon-accoucheur to the 
Empress Eugenie.* For the personnel of the Court there were 
eight medical men doing duty in rotation, and each in receipt 
of £^'iO a year. Two of them, with one of the head doctors, 
were always in attendance at the Tuileries. Court officials 
and domestics were also visited free of charge at their homes, 
accounts being kept too with pharmaceutical chemists in 
various parts of Paris. But there was also a well-appointed 
pharmacy at the Tuileries, in the charge of M. Acar, whom 
the Emperor had known at Ham, and who, in addition to 
permanent quarters and board, received £^4^0 a year. 

As the reader will have perceived, we have not here entered 
fully into the cost of maintaining the Imperial Court — we have 
postponed, for instance, such matters as the Emperor's private 
cabinet, the palace kitchen and table, the equipages, horses, 
and hunt, and we have not yet come to the organization of the 
households of the Empress and the Imperial Prince; but 
enough has been said already to show that Napoleon III. had 

* Subsequently a medical attendant in ordinary to the Imperial Prince 
vras appointed, with a salary of £320. We should have mentioned that £1200 
was Conneau's and £800 Corvisart's salary. 



THE NEW COURT 55 

few, if any, opportunities for saving money. Large emoluments 
certainly went to men of very indifferent character ; but, taking 
the Court in its ensemble, the artisans of the Coup d''Etat were 
decidedly in a minority, and death soon thinned their ranks. 
The majority of the others were neither better nor worse than 
the average Frenchman of those times, while some were men of 
real distinction and merit. The legend that the Court of the 
Tuileries was formed exclusively of profligate banditti is utterly 
absurd. The Court had its scandals undoubtedly, and of some, 
including the worst, we shall have occasion to speak ; but if only 
a quarter of all the alleged scandals had been true, the regime 
would have been swept away long years before the downfall of 
Sedan. To imagine the contrary would be a gross libel on the 
French nation. 



CHAPTER III 

THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE — THE EMPRESS AND HER 
HOUSEHOLD 

The Emperor's first Matrimonial Negotiations— Opposition to the Alliance 
with Mile, de Montijo — The Speculations of Fould and St. Arnaud— The 
tragic Camerata Scandal — Mile, de Montijo's first glimpse of Louis 
Napoleon — Her juvenile sympathy with him at Ham — Intercourse of the 
Montijos with the Prince during his Presidency — The Proposal of Marriage 
— Position of the Jerome Branch of the Bonapartes — The Parentage of 
the Empress Eug6nie— The Empress's Beauty at the time of her Marriage 
— Her sister, the Duchess d'Albe — The Wedding Preparations — The Civil 
Marriage— Prince Napoleon in Mourning— The Bridal Dress and Jewels— 
The Ceremony at Notre Dame — Favourable popular Impression— The 
Empress's Household — The Great Mistress, the Lady of Honour and the 
Ladies of the Palace — The Maids of Honour and the Lady Reader— The 
Great Master of the Household and the Chamberlains — The Secretary and 
the Librarian. 

Some time elapsed before the Imperial Household was com- 
pletely constituted and set in working order ; but it had been 
planned by Count Fleury (who, as he tells us, took the Court 
of Napoleon I. as his model), and the plans had already been 
largely carried out, prior to the Emperor's marriage. On the 
other hand, Louis Napoleon had turned his thoughts to 
matrimony even before the restoration of the Empire was 
officially proclaimed. There is a legend that he asked Mile, de 
Montijo, later the Empress Eugenie, to become his bride 
prior to the Coup d'Etat ; but the facts are different. It is 
known that Count Walewski, French ambassador to England, 
approached Queen Victoria, in December, 1852, on the subject 
of a marriage between the new Emperor and the Princess 
Adelaide of Hohenlohe, a niece of her Majesty, and that 
although the Queen did not seriously object, the Princess's 



THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE 57 

father did, on account not only of difference of religion, but 
also of Napoleon's reputation from the moral standpoint. 
Further, about the same time, the Emperor's cousin, Count 
Tascher de la Pagerie,* carried on some negotiations elsewhere, 
perhaps in Bavaria, to which country he had for many years 
belonged; while Fleury, as recounted by himself in his 
" Souvenirs," set out on a mission to secure the hand of Carola 
Frederika, Princess Wasa, daughter of Prince Wasa, the son of 
Gustavus IV. of Sweden. t Whatever Fleury may allege to the 
contrary, it seems that Napoleon III. hoped to succeed in that 
quarter, for the Princess Carola's grandmother, on the maternal 
side, was a Beauharnais, a daughter of Count Claude of that 
name, and a first cousin of Queen Hortense. Napoleon I. had 
adopted her, and she had espoused the Grand Duke of Baden. J 
Nevertheless, however favourably she might be disposed towards 
Louis Napoleon, Fleury's mission failed, because, says he, the 
Princess Carola's hand had been virtually promised already to 
Crown Prince Albert of Saxony. That may be so, for six 
months later she married that Prince, and eventually rose with 
him to the Saxon throne. 

Napoleon, according to Fleury, was relieved by the failure 
of the negotiations, but the case is very suggestive of the fable 
of the fox and the grapes. It is certain that the majority of 
the Emperor's advisers wished him to marry a foreign Princess. 
When the alliance with Mile, de Montijo was first mooted, it 
was opposed by Persigny, then Minister of the Interior ; Drouyn 
de Lhuys, the Foreign Secretary ; Abbatucci, the Keeper of the 
Seals ; Fortoul, the Minister of Public Instruction ; Bineau, the 
Minister of Finances ; Troplong, the President of the Senate ; 
Walewski, and several others — in fact, by far the greater part 

* Of the family of the Empress Josephine. See post, p. 74. 

t The reader may be reminded that Gustavus IV. was deposed and suc- 
ceeded by his uncle, Charles XIII., who adopted as his successor Bernadotte, 
from whom the present Swedish royal house is descended. According to 
legitimist doctrine, the Prince Wasa mentioned above was by right King of 
Sweden. 

X Her record, as regards the occupation of thrones by her posterity, is 
almost as remarkable as that of the Danish royal house. From the Grand 
Duchess Stephanie are descended the Kings of Saxony, Portugal, and 
Eoumania, the Grand Duke of Baden, the Princes of HohenzoUern- 
Sigmaringen, the Prince of Monaco, and the Count of Flanders, as well aa 
the Dukes of Hamilton. 



58 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

of the administration ; its only partisans being Fleury, Morny, 
St. Arnaud, Edgar Ney, Toulongeon (the Emperor's orderly), 
and Fould, the Minister of the Imperial Household. Fould, 
however, seems to have played a double game in the affair. 
Aware as he was that the outside world anticipated that the 
new Emperor, should he decide to marry, would contract some 
great alliance, he resolved to profit by what would happen, and 
when the public announcement of the marriage with Mile, de 
Montijo almost led to a panic on the Bourse — a fall of two 
francs in Rentes, and a drop in most other public securities — 
he, having played for the fall, reaped very large profits, whereas 
St. Arnaud — an inveterate gambler — who had done his utmost 
to support the market, was hit so badly that (according to the 
Archives of the Prefecture of Police) he narrowly escaped 
"execution," and was only extricated from his difficulties by 
the liberality of the Emperor, to whom he excused himself for 
his misfortune by attributing all the blame to the "bearing" 
tactics of Fould.* 

A connection of the imperial house, young Count Camerata, 
a grandson of the first Napoleon's sister Elisa, also speculated 
disastrously on that occasion, and after vainly appealing for 
assistance both to his mother. Princess Baciocchi, and to Prince 
Jerome Bonaparte, who, it has been asserted, owed him 
money at the time, he committed suicide. His death was 
followed a few days afterwards by that of a promising young 
actress of the Vaudeville Theatre, Elisa Letessier, who appeared 
professionally under the name of Mile. Marthe. She and 
Camerata were much attached to each other, and she would 
not survive him, but put an end to her life by means of a pan 
of charcoal. All the theatrical notabilities of Paris followed 
the young artiste to her grave. 

But we must not anticipate. The early matrimonial 
negotiations with foreign Courts having failed. Napoleon was 
evidently of opinion that others would have a similar result, 
and he thereupon seriously turned his thoughts to the question 
of wedding Mile, de Montijo. She and her mother, the 

* Fleury tells the story in his own fashion, and informs us that he defended 
St. Arnaud against the charge of being a gambler. But it wasi Fleury's 
business to defend his Coup d'Etat confederates. 



THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE 59 

Countess, were frequently in France. They had first gone 
there during some of the troubles in Spain in 1834, when, as 
Marshal de Castellane relates in his " Diary," he met them at 
Perpignan. During Louis Napoleon's presidency of the 
Republic they had been frequent guests at his entertainments. 
The first time, however, when they caught sight of the futura 
Emperor was after the Strasburg affair in 1836, when, being in 
Paris, they happened to call at the Prefecture of Police to see 
the Prefect's wife, Mme. Delessert, a Spaniard by birth and a 
family friend, on which occasion they saw the Prince passing in 
the custody of several policemen. Eugenie de Montijo was 
then only a child, some ten years old, but the incident impressed 
her, and when Louis Napoleon was imprisoned at Ham, after 
the Boulogne affair, she, " being always inclined towards those 
who suffered, interested in all the oppressed, and nourishing a 
secret sympathy for the Prince, urged her mother to go and 
carry the captive such consolation as might be possible. The 
Countess de Montijo had decided on that pious pilgrimage 
when she was diverted from her object by unlooked-for 
circumstances."" * The first actual meeting only took place 
during the Prince's Presidency at a dance at the Elysee Palace, 
to which Mme. de Montijo, by her connections in society, easily 
obtained an invitation. 

Virtually, from that time forward, wherever the Prince 
President stayed, whether at St. Cloud, Fontainebleau, or 
Compiegne, the Montijos were among his most frequent guests. 
One constantly finds their names in the various lists of invites 
published at the time. They also attended all the reviews, 
whether at the Carrousel, the Champ de Mars, or Satory. 
Castellane, meeting them one day at St. Cloud, remarked with 
some surprise that the fair Eugenia was still unmarried, although 
extremely d la mode. The position of the young lady was 
certainly somewhat invidious, though then, as ever, she con- 
ducted herself with great propriety. Ill-natured people are apt 
to talk, however, when a young lady is long in " going off," and 
Mile, de Montijo was no longer a mere girl in years. Whether 

* Prom an article in Napoleon III.'s organ, Le Dix Ddccmhre, De- 
cember 15, 1868. The MS. of this article, in the Emperor's own handwriting, 
was found at the Tuileries after the revolution of 1870, 



60 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

she made it her express purpose to fascinate Louis Napoleon — 
as many French and Enghsh writers have asserted — or whether 
she did not, he at all events fell in love with her. We ourselves 
do not think that she needed to exert herself in order to please. 
Napoleon was extremely susceptible to female charms, and she 
was extremely beautiful. And we are quite ready to believe 
that, while she was willing to become Empress of the French, 
she was also prepared, as Fleury states, to quit France and 
return to Spain at the slightest sign of disrespect. 

When Napoleon first told his friend Fleury that he was in 
love with Mile, de Montijo, Fleury at once advised him to 
marry her. But knowing what we do of the third Napoleon's 
character — he was still entangled with an English mistress, Miss 
Howard — it is certain that love in his case did not necessarily 
mean marriage. It appears from Fleury's narrative that the 
INIarchioness de Contades, daughter of Marshal de Castellane, 
sounded her friend Mile, de Montijo respecting her sentiments 
towards Napoleon, and communicated the result to Fleury ; and 
when the matrimonial negotiations with foreign Courts had 
failed, the Emperor suddenly made up his mind and asked for 
Mile, de Montijo's hand. It is said that in the first instance 
he addressed himself to the young lady herself on a favourable 
occasion in the reserved park of the Chateau of Compiegne. 
But the definite official proposal was made by the Minister 
of his Household, Fould. It would have been more in accord- 
ance with French social usage if Mme. de Montijo had been 
approached by a Princess of the Emperor's house ; and, indeed, 
the Princess Mathilde, daughter of the first Napoleon's brother, 
Jerome, sometime King of Westphalia, was thought of, and it 
is stated in several works that the official proposal was actually 
made by her. Even Fleury asserts it in the first volume of his 
" Souvenirs," but, corrected by the Princess herself, acknowledges 
his error in the second. The fact is, that the duty would not 
have been a pleasant one for the Princess Mathilde, for the 
Emperor's marriage was likely to deprive her brother, Prince 
Napoleon, of his chance of succeeding to the throne. 

For that very reason many people were delighted that the 
Emperor should have decided to marry. In framing the Con- 
stitution of the Empire, the Senate had deliberately modified 



THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE 61 

a proposed clause setting forth that in the event of no direct 
issue the crown should pass to the Jerome branch of the 
imperial family. In lieu of adopting that stipulation, the 
Senators had left to the Emperor the duty of designating his 
successor, taking that course because they were unwilling to 
co-operate in the selection of Prince Napoleon, whom most 
of them cordially detested on account of his pretensions to 
radical republicanism and free-thought. The result was that 
old Prince Jerome, then President of the Senate, resigned that 
post in a huff — while, of course, assigning another reason for his 
action — and that he, his son Prince Napoleon, and his daughter 
Princess Mathilde, were only placated by a decree, which the 
Emperor himself issued, establishing the succession in their 
branch of the family in the event of his demise without leaving 
a son. That decree was dated December 18, 1852, but the 
pleasure of the Jeromites was short-lived, as on the 22nd of 
the following January, Napoleon III., having overridden the 
objections of the majority of his Ministers, announced to the 
great bodies of the State assembled at the Tuileries his 
approaching marriage ; the Moniteur adding, almost unneces- 
sarily, on the morrow, that Mile, de Montijo was the sovereign's 
choice. It is true that the Emperor had not named her in his 
speech, but he had designated her clearly enough.* 

Several years ago a number of French newspapers were con- 
victed of publishing an erroneous, even libellous, account of the 
Empress Eugenie's origin. They wrongfully asserted that she 
and her sister, the Duchess d''Albe (Alva), were the daughters 
of Doiia Maria del Pilar de Penansanda, who, after marrying 
Don Joaquin de Montijo, captain in the Regiment of Segovia, 
in February, 1810, was divorced from him in France in 1813, 
but, on the divorce being annulled in Spain, lived with him 

* It was an impertinence on the Emperor's part, after vainly soliciting the 
hands of two foreign princesses, to sneer, as he did, in the marriage announce- 
ment at alliances with European royalties. In remarkably bad taste was the 
allusion to the Duke of Orleans (son of Louis Philippe), whom the new ruler 
pictured as having fruitlessly solicited an alliance with one and another 
sovereign house, and " securing at last the hand of a princess of only secondary 
rank and a different religion." He, Napoleon III., had been refused even by 
princesses of less than secondary rank. On the other hand, his reference to 
himself as a parvenu was not misplaced, though it was greatly disliked by 
many leading imperialists. 



62 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

affain until his death on October 30, 1823. The date of the 
Empress Eugenie's birth being 1826, it followed that she could 
not be the daughter of Don Joaquin. That story,* and the 
conclusions which were drawn from it, met, however, with 
annihilation during the legal proceedings which took place, it 
being shown that the Empress had never claimed to be the 
daughter of the aforesaid Don Joaquin and Doiia Maria del 
Pilar. In an anonymous brochure, issued by the Empress''s 
desire and written, it is believed, by M. F. Masson, the real 
facts were set forth, with certificates of birth, baptism, and other 
documentary evidence. Nevertheless, in later years another 
romantic account of the Empress's origin has appeared in some 
French works, it being asserted that she and her sister were no 
Montijos at all, but the children of Queen Christina of Spain — 
the wife of Ferdinand VII. and mother of Isabella II. — who 
induced the Countess de Montijo to bring them up as if they 
were her own offspring ! Queen Christina is not accounted a 
virtuous woman by historians, but not a shred of evidence of the 
slightest value has ever been tendered in support of the above 
story. The facts, indeed, are such as were stated in the legal 
proceedings and the pamphlet already mentioned.f The father, 
then, of the Empress Euge'nie was Don Cipriano Portocarrero, 
Palafox, Lopez de Zuniga, Rojas y Leiva, Count of Montijo 
(Conde del Montijo), Duke of Periaranda, Count of Miranda del 
Castailar, etc., and grandee of Spain, He inherited most of his 
titles from his elder brother, Don Eugenio, seventh Count of 
Montijo, who died without issue in 1834. Before then Don 
Cipriano was generally known by the names of Guzman, 
Palafox y Portocarrero. He was a Napoleonist Spaniard, served 
in the French artillery as Colonel Portocarrero, received the 
Legion of Honour, was severely wounded at Salamanca, and 
again at the battle of Paris in 1814. He ultimately became a 
Spanish senator, and died at Madrid on March 15, 1839. 

On December 15, 1817, he had married Dona Maria 
Manuela Kirkpatrick y Gi-evigne, the daughter of William 

* We refer to it chiefly because it is still preserved in certain books, 
notably in Hamel's " Histoire du Second Empire " — in spite of the legal 
proceedings. 

t " L'lmp^ratrice : Notes et Documents," SvOj Paris, 1877. 



THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE 63 

Kirkpatrick * y Wilson, Consul of the United States at Malaga. 
Kirkpatrick's wife was Dona Francisca Grevigne, whose family 
had originally belonged to Liege, and whose sister, Doiia 
Catalina, married Count Mathieu de Lesseps, Commissary- 
General of the French Republic in Spain from 1800 to 1802, 
and father of the famous Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was 
thus a second cousin of the Empress Eugenie on the maternal 
side. 

By his marriage with William Kirkpatrick's daughter, Don 
Cipriano de Montijo had two children, both born at Granada : 
the elder, Maria Francisca de Sales Cipriana, on January 29, 
1825, and the younger, Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augustina, on 
May 5, 1826. It was the latter who became Empress of the 
French. Her sister, Francisca de Sales, was married in February, 
1844, to a lineal descendant of James II. of Great Britain, that 
is, Don James Stuart FitzJames, Ventimiglia, Alvarez de 
Toledo, Belmonte y Navarra-Portogallo, eighth Duke of Berwick, 
fourteenth Duke of Alva, Duke of Leiria, Jerica, Galisteo, 
Montoro and Huesca, Count-Duke of Olivares, Count of Lemos, 
senior grandee of Spain, twelve times a first-class grandee, con- 
stable of Navarre, etc. The bride's father, it may be mentioned, 
had been eight times a count, twelve times a viscount, four 
times a grandee ; but in giving the Count de Montijo's name we 
spared the reader a full enumeration of his titles. It is certain, 
however, that his two daughters were of high lineage, coming as 
they did on his side from the ancient houses of Guzman and 
Palafox. 

It will be seen that the elder daughter married the Duke of 
Berwick and Alva when she was only nineteen,! whereas her 
sister was nearly twenty-seven when she espoused Napoleon III. 
In all the official documents of that time Eugenie de Montijo is 
described (like her mother) as "her Excellency," and the title 
of Countess de Teba and other places is assigned to her. Both 
desicrnations were correct. When her father succeeded his elder 

* He belonged to the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn, and seems to have been 
born at Dumfries. 

t She died young, in 1860, as we shall have occasion to relate; her 
husband, who was about four years her senior, survived till 1881. In France 
they were always known as the Duke and Duchess d'Albe [Alva], by which 
titles we propose to refer to them. 



64 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

brother as Count de Montijo, certain entailments, which 
stipulated that the countships of Montijo and Teba should never 
be held by the same person, had compelled him to relinquish the 
latter to his younger daughter,* 

The bride of Napoleon III. was more beautiful than her 
sister, the Duchess d'Albe, and, though on placing photographs 
of them side by side one is immediately struck by the resemblance 
of one to the other, this was not in reality so marked as might 
be supposed. Not only were the Duchess's features less delicately 
chiselled, not only was her figure shghter than the Empress's, 
but her hair was dark, whereas her sister's was of a golden 
chestnut hue. In all respects, indeed, the Empress Eugenie 
was of a fairer complexion, with skin of a transparent whiteness, 
dehcately tinted cheeks, and fine, bright, blue eyes, shaded by 
drooping lids and abundant lashes. Her nose, if somewhat long, 
was slender, aristocratic ; her mouth was small, and lent itself 
to an engaging smile. Slightly above the average height of 
Frenchwomen, she had a graceful and supple figure, an easy and 
yet dignified carriage. Her neck, her shoulders, and her arms 
were delicately statuesque, her feet worthy of her Andalusian 
birth. But to many she suggested rather the famous Venetian 
type of beauty, and it was often said that if Titian had been 
alive he would have gone on his knees to beg her to sit to 
him. It is, perhaps, a pity that the great painter was not a 
contemporary, for we might then have been spared the Jadeurs 
of Winterhalter and others. On the other hand, the Empress 
had less ease of manner, gaiety, and charm of disposition than 
her sister. The Duchess d'Albe was a woman whom everybody 
immediately liked and appreciated, while often contenting 
themselves with admiring the Empress. 

The marriage having been decided on, all open hostility to 
it among the Emperor's entourage ceased immediately, that is 
to say, excepting in one quarter : Miss Howard,t who had 
aspired to the 7-6le of La Pompadour, was extremely irate. 
Money, huge sums of money, did not pacify her, and at the 
time of the ceremony the devoted Mocquard, the Emperor's 

* Teba is in the heart of Andalusia, north of Ronda, whereas Montijo is in 
Estremadura, between Merida and Badajoz. 

t For some account of Miss Howardj see^os^ p. 182 et scg. 



THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE 65 

private secretary and confidant, had to keep her away from 
Paris. The preparations were pushed on with all possible 
speed. While the bride-elect and her mother took up their 
residence at the Elysee, Fleury, the chief stage-manager of the 
regime, exerted himself to organize the nuptial cortege with 
proper splendour. Nearly all the gala carriages of the State 
dated from the time of Charles X. and Louis Philippe, and 
bore the Bourbon or Orleans arms, which had to be effaced. 
Moreover, the gilding, the painting, the upholstery required 
renovation, while there was also a deficiency both of horses and of 
trappings. As for horses, Fleury ingeniously met the difficulty 
by hiring a large number of the best animals which the London 
jobmasters could supply. They were promptly sent across the 
Channel, while at the State carriage depot at Trianon and in 
Paris a little army of painters, gilders, decorators, embroiderers, 
saddlers, and so forth, worked zealously both day and night in 
order that all other requisites might be ready in time. 

The civil marriage took place at the Tuileries on the evening 
of January 29, 1853. At eight ©""clock, Cambaceres, Great 
Master of Ceremonies, went to the Elysee to fetch the bride 
and her mother. They entered the Tuileries by the Pavilion 
de Flore, and were received in the vestibule by St. Arnaud, 
Fleury, two masters of ceremonies, and others, who conducted 
them upstairs, first to the family drawing-room, at the door of 
which they were welcomed by Prince Napoleon and Princess 
Mathilde. Of all those assembled on the occasion. Prince 
Napoleon was the only man who wore neither uniform nor 
official costume of any kind. He was simply attired in black 
evening dress, as if, indeed, he were in mourning for his chance 
of succession to the throne. But that was a fashion which, with 
pretended Republicanism, he affected during the early period 
of the Empire, and the story runs that when he was suddenly 
created a General of Division, though he had never served a 
single hour in the army, the Emperor took that course chiefly 
in order to compel him to wear a uniform on official occasions,* 

* We have given the above anecdote because it is amusing ; but Prince 
Napoleon became, we think, a senator at an early date, and had no real excuse 
for not wearing at least the senatorial dress on official occasions. Several 
writers of the time agree in stating, however, that the Prince affected plain 

F 



66 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

The Prince revenged himself on his cousin, however, by taking 
the matter seriously and insisting on being sent to the Crimea, 
whence he returned to Paris with a reputation which was 
anything but favourable. 

Uniform or no uniform, however, gay at heart or secretly 
mourning, Prince Napoleon contrived to do his duty at the 
imperial wedding. He and his sister conducted Mme. and Mile, 
de Montijo from the salon de Janiille to the salon d''honnetcr, 
where the bridegroom, wearing the order of the Golden Fleece 
and the collar of Chief of the Legion of Honour (which had 
belonged to Napoleon I,), was awaiting them. Marshals, 
admirals, ministers, officers of State and of the Household, 
pressed around, and finally, a procession being formed in strict 
accordance with the rules of precedence and etiquette prescribed 
during the first Empire, the whole company betook itself to the 
Hall of the Marshals. 

Thither had been brought the old Register of the Imperial 
House, preserved since the great Napoleon's downfall. The 
last signed entry in it recorded the birth of the King of Rome. 
Achille Fould, as Minister of State and the Household, 
officiated. He went through the usual formalities, inquired of 
the bride and bridegroom if they were willing to take each other 
in marriage, and on receiving their assent, pronounced them 
to be man and wife : " In the name of the Emperor, the Consti- 
tution and the law, I declare that his Majesty Napoleon III., 
Emperor of the French by the Grace of God and the National 
Will, and her Excellency Mademoiselle Eugenie de Montijo, 
Countess de Teba, are united in marriage." Then the register 
was signed, and the newly married pair and the w^hole company 
passed into the palace theatre to hear a cantata, specially com- 
posed by Auber, with verses by Mery, the Provencal writer, 
who congratulated Spain on having formed the new Empress 
out of one of its splendid sunrays. 

After the concert the bride was re-escorted to the Elysee, 
where early on the morrow she attended a low mass. But at 
noon she returned to the Tuileries amid the roar of the guns 

black. Perhaps, remembering the instance of Wellington and the decora- 
tions at the Congress of Vienna, he imagined that somebody would repeat 
Metternich's remark : Ma foi, c'est bien distingu6 1 If so, he was mistaken. 



THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE 67 

of the Invalides. Her long-trained bridal gown was of rich 
white silk, covered with exquisite Alengon. As she had legally 
been Empress since the previous evening, the Crown jewels of 
France had been placed at her disposal, and she thus wore 
a houcle de ceinture simulating a sun, the historic Regent or 
Pitt diamond * forming the planet, and three hundred other 
brilliants figuring its rays or hanging as aiguillettes. Further, 
a diadem of six hundred brilliants bedimmed the effulgence 
of her hair, whence, from under a spray of orange-blossom, 
fell a veil of Brussels point. A rope of pearls, her own pro- 
perty, was wound four times around her fair young neck. And 
to all the splendour of jewels and raiment was added the grace 
of a born queen. 

A decree constituting the new Empress''s Household had 
been signed, and she was attended by her Great Mistress, the 
Princess d'Essling, Duchess de Rivoli, of the Massena family, 
her Lady of Honour the Duchess de Bassano, and her first 
Chamberlain, Count Charles Tascher de La Pagerie. The 
Great Master of her Household, the senior Count Tascher de 
La Pagerie, nephew of the Empress Josephine, and her Equerry, 
Baron de Pierres, were in attendance on the Countess de 
Montijo. We lack the space to describe in detail the cortege 
which proceeded by way of the Carrousel, the Place du Louvre, 
and the Rue de Rivoli to Notre Dame. Fleury, whose 
resplendent regiment of Guides figured conspicuously on the 
occasion, had planned such a show as the Parisians had not 
witnessed since the earlier years of the century. The Emperor 
and Empress — he in full uniform and again wearing the collar 
of the Legion of Honour and the Golden Fleece — ^went together 
in a great coach, surmounted by an imperial crown and 
elaborately gilded and adorned with paintings, which had been 
built for the wedding of Napoleon I. and Marie Louise. But at 
the outset a curious and ominous mishap occurred. The bridal 
pair had taken their seats, and the vehicle was passing from 
under the vaulted entrance of the Tuileries into the courtyard, 
when the imperial crown suddenly fell from the coach to the 
ground. The eight horses were at once halted, the crown was 
picked up, and in some fashion or other set in place again, 
* An incli and a half long, an inch wide ; weight 136 carats. 



68 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Meantime, as the Emperor, surprised at the delay, inquired the 
cause of it, Fleury, approaching the coach, quietly informed him, 
whereupon the Emperor replied that he would tell him an anec- 
dote some other time. But the First Equerry knew it already. 
A virtually identical accident had occurred with the same coach 
and the same crown at the marriage of Napoleon I. and Marie 
Louise. Infaustum omen ! 

It was not the only inauspicious augury that day. A 
Spanish lady who witnessed the wedding expressed her amaze- 
ment that the Empress, being a Spaniard, should have ventured 
to wear a rope of pearls, for, according to an old Castillian 
saying, "The pearls that women wear on their wedding-day 
symbolize the tears they are fated to shed." 

Fifteen thousand candles were burning in the fane of Notre 
Dame de Paris, and the ancient edifice was crowded with digni- 
taries, officials, diplomatic representatives and ladies, when 
the procession arrived there. According to the poets, on the 
coming of Helen to Troy, the inhabitants who flocked to con- 
template her recoiled in amazement, wonderstruck, almost 
frightened, by the sight of such incomparable beauty. In some- 
what similar fashion, a great wave of emotion swayed the 
spectators in Notre Dame when they saw the young Empress 
enter. Slowly, to the strains of grave soft music, the bridal 
pair stepped along the nave under a canopy of red velvet lined 
with white silk. Holy water and incense were offered them, 
and they took their places on a throne-like platform, whither 
Archbishop Sibour of Paris * came to salute them. Then they 
proceeded to the altar, and the ceremony began. The Bishop 
of Nancy presented the offering of gold pieces, tendered the 
wedding ring for the Archbishop's blessing, and with 
the Bishop of Versailles held the canopy over the bridal pair, 
who, at the conclusion of the marriage rites, returned to the 
platform while mass was celebrated. The register was after- 
wards signed, the witnesses to the Emperor's signature being 
Prince Jerome and Prince Napoleon, and to the Empress's, the 
Marquis de Valdegamas, Spanish ambassador, and several 

* Four years later, Mgr. Sibour was stabbed to death in the church of St. 
Etienne du Mont by a priest named Verger. We shall have occasion to 
recount that crime. 



THE IMPERIAL MARRIAGE 69 

grandees. It was to the strains of Lesueur s Urhs heata that the 
Emperor and Empress quitted the cathedral, and when they 
appeared at the entrance deafening applause arose from the 
waiting crowd. They returned by way of the quays to the 
Tuileries Palace, where a State banquet, a concert, and many 
presentations ensued. Finally, the newly wedded pair escaped 
to the little chateau of Villeneuve FEtang, adjoining the park 
of St. Cloud, and there, and in excursions to Versailles and 
Trianon, they spent the first days of their union. 

On the whole the marriage was certainly popular. The 
Parisians, however lively they may be as a community, are but 
poor applauders, as everybody knows. On that first day and 
for some time afterwards, however, the Empress''s beauty 
repeatedly stirred them from their wonted reserve. Said one 
man of the people to another on the wedding day, as the cortege 
passed : " Well, at all events, he [meaning the Emperor] has 
good taste. He can tell a pretty woman when he sees one."" 
" Sapristi, yes," the other replied ; " shouldn't I like to be in 



ace 



I" 



his pi 

Apart, however, from the bride''s attractiveness, a distinctly 
favourable impression had been created by her refusal of a 
diamond jparure which the Administrative Commission of 
Paris * proposed to offer her at a cost of <£*2 4,000, which sum 
she preferred to see devoted to some charitable work, and 
notably, said she, to the establishment of a school where poor 
girls might receive a professional education. Eventually the 
money was used to found the Orphelinat Eugfene-Napole'on. 
With respect to a sum of ^£'10,000 which the Emperor placed 
in his bride's corheille de mariage, she divided it among various 
hospitals for incurables and maternity societies. Apart from 
those pecuniary matters, however, the marriage had a good 
effect because the Emperor deigned to " pardon " 3000 persons 
who had been arrested, transported or exiled for daring to 
oppose or disapprove of his illegal Coup d'Etat. For that 
offence 41,000 persons had been apprehended or prosecuted, and 

* There was no real Municipal Council in those days. Paris was not 
allowed to have elected representatives. It was ruled by a Prefect and a 
Commission, which was appointed by Government and composed exclusively 
of fervent Bonapartists, on whom the supremo authorities could rely. 



70 THE COtTRT OF THE TUILERIES 

29,000 of them convicted and sentenced by courts martial, or 
ordinary courts, or arbitrary mixed commissions.* The figures 
had been diminished by successive decrees of pardon, but at the 
time of the imperial marriage there still remained some 6000 
persons imprisoned at Lambessa, at Cayenne or in France, or 
else exiled from the country. It was with satisfaction therefore 
that people heard of the new decree which considerably reduced 
the number of the Coup d"'Etat"'s victims. 

It has been mentioned that a Household had been constituted 
for the new Empress. The Princess d"'Essling, who was appointed 
its Great Mistress with a salary of ^^1600 a year, was a daughter 
of General Debelle. Short and slight of figure, with fair curly 
hair, she nevertheless had a very dignified bearing, in fact she 
was inclined to frigidity and curtness of manner. She did not 
live at the Tuileries, but called there every day to take the 
Empress"'s orders. She attended her, of course, at all state 
ceremonies, banquets, and receptions, and was charged with the 
presentation of ladies at Court. In her absence her duties were 
undertaken by the Empress's Lady of Honour, a post held at 
first by the Duchess de Bassano, nee Hoogworth, wife of the 
Emperor's Great Chamberlain, and a lady who contrasted 
strikingly with the Princess d'Essling, for, like a true Fleming, 
she was tall and buxom, and possessed of a very amiable smile 
and disposition. Even the most scurrilous of the scandal- 
mongers of the Empire never assailed the Bassano menage. 
Husband and wife were regarded as patterns for the whole 
Court, and the Duke was grievously afflicted when Mme. de 
Bassano died still young, leaving three children in his charge. 
She was succeeded in her office by a beautiful Florentine, 
Countess Walewska, who was very amiable, indeed (according 
to Lord Malmesbury and others) too amiable — particularly 
with the Emperor. Of no lady of the Court have the anec- 
dotiers of the Empire related more amazing and, probably, 
mendacious stories. 

Besides the Great Mistress and the Lady of Honour there 

were six so-called Ladies of the Palace (with salaries of ^£'480 

a year) in attendance on the Empress. Among their duties 

were those of accompanying her when she went out, and of 

* Eeport discovered at the Tuileries after the fall of the Empire. 



THE EMPRESSES HOUSEHOLD 71 

introducing lady visitors into her presence. They did not reside 
at the Tuileries, but attended in rotation week by week, there 
being always one " Dame de grand service" and one "Dame de 
petit service " on duty. Among the first appointed was the 
Countess de Montebello, nee de Villeneuve-Bargemont and wife 
of General de Montebello, sometime ambassador at the Papal 
Court. A fervent catholic and a great friend of the Empress's 
sister, the Duchess d'Albe, Mme. de Montebello was extremely 
attractive and elegant ; but towards the end of the Empire she 
fell into a decline, and passed away almost on the eve of the 
Franco-German war. Next one may mention the Baroness de ^^ 
Pierres, wife of the Empress's first Equerry. She was of American 
birth, her father, Mr. Thorne, having been one of the early 
millionaires of the United States, one who had dazzled Paris 
with his wealth during the reign of Louis Philippe. It was 
through Mme. de Pierres that more than one American lady 
obtained the entree to the Court of the Tuileries, for it must not 
be forgotten that beauties and heiresses of the new world were 
cordially welcomed there very many years before they succeeded 
in invading the Court of St. James. The Baroness de Pierres 
was a splendid horsewoman — in fact, one of the best riders in 
France. 

Another Lady of the Palace, the INlarchioness de Las Maris- ^.^ 
mas, was a famous Court beauty, with fair golden hair, a bright 
dazzling complexion, and a most graceful figure. But she was 
gradually borne down by successive misfortunes. First her 
husband, a naturalized Frenchman of Spanish origin and ex- 
tremely wealthy, lost his reason, whereupon she would not 
suffer him to be removed to any asylum, but watched over him 
until his death. A new life seemed to be opening for her when 
by special dispensation she married her deceased husband's 
brother. Viscount Onesime Aguado, but she lost in succession 
her lovely daughter Carmen, Duchess de Montmorency, then 
both her sons, and her second husband also. It is not sur- 
prising that she should have ended her life in close and sorrowful 
retirement. At one time, however, the Aguado mansion in the 
Rue de TElysee witnessed some of the most splendid enter- 
tainments given in Paris, while the Aguado equipages were 
renowned. 



72 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Among the very first Ladies of the Palace who were appointed 
was the Countess Feray, daughter of Marshal Bugeaud, who, 
being extremely proud of her birth, found Court duties and 
habits of deference irksome. She therefore soon withdrew from 
the post. The Countess de Lezay-Marnesia, a very amiable 
woman, who was another of the first ladies-in-waiting, also 
resigned, but in consequence of failing health ; whereupon the 
Empress selected as her successor the beautiful Madame Carette, 
grand-daughter of Admiral Bouvet, and for some years her 
Majesty's reader. Mme. Carette's husband was a prominent 
landowner and agriculturist of northern France. Of recent 
years she has penned various volumes of recollections, which we 
have consulted and quoted from in this narrative. 

The Marchioness de Latour-Maubourg, a granddaughter 
of Marshal Mortier, was also a Lady of the Palace. She was 
tall, good-tempered, and witty, had little taste for display, but 
was extremely attached to her husband, a tall and handsome 
man, who held office in the Imperial Hunt. A succession of 
misfortunes, similar to those of the Aguados, fell upon the 
family, and Mme. de Latour-Maubourg, the last survivor, 
ended by seeking refuge in a convent. Among her colleagues 
at Court were the two daughters of the Marquis de la Roche- 
Lambert, sometime Ambassador at Berlin — first the Countess 
de La Bedoyere, and secondly the Countess de La Poeze.* The 
former, a radiant blonde with a fine figure, is often mentioned 
by the anecdotiers of the time. Becoming a widow, she 
married Edgar Ney, Prince de la Moskowa, but after her 
second marriage she was always ailing, and died comparatively 
young. Her sister, Mme. de La Poeze, was of slighter build 
and less beauty, but she possessed a very lively wit. 

The Baroness de Malaret, noted for her taste in dress, was 
only for a short time in attendance on the Empress, having 
followed her husband to Turin when he received a diplomatic 
appointment there. Mme. de Sancy de Parabere, a daughter 
of General Lefebvre-Desnouettes, and therefore a family con- 
nection of the Bonapartes, appeared upon the scene in 1855, 
when she was still very young. A woman of the highest 
distinction, witty and high-minded, expert too in retaining 

* See p. 355 for further references to these ladies. 



THE EMPRESS'S HOUSEHOLD 73 

her beauty in spite of the lapse of years, she became one of 
the Empress's favourites. Her colleague, Mme. de Saulcy, 
a daughter of Baron de Billing, was very charming, tall, slim 
and graceful, with a gentle face. Her husband was a writer 
of repute on the Holy Land and Jewish history. The Baroness 
de Viry de Cohendier, a handsome young woman with large 
dark eyes, for which Marshal Vaillant very bluntly expressed 
his admiration,* only became a lady-in-waiting after the 
annexation of Savoy, to which province she belonged. She 
was, without reason, very jealous of her husband, a tall, pale, 
frigid man, who was appointed an honorary chamberlain and 
mooned about the palace, making friends with nobody. 

The Countess de Lourmel, another Lady of the Palace, was, ^"^ 
says the Duke de Conegliano, plain, but very gay and amiable. 
Perhaps so — with gentlemen. But Mme. Carette, while men- 
tioning that the Countess was quite destitute of beauty, differs 
from the Duke in other respects, for she rather spitefully 
describes Mme. de Lourmel as vain and irritable, and en- 
deavouring fruitlessly to become the Empress's favourite. 
She was generally known as the "lady with the emeralds," 
owing to a wonderful parure which she was fond of wearing, 
and which was supposed to be composed of false stones, as her 
private circumstances were slender. She died towards the end 
of the Empire after losing her reason. The Tuileries was an 
unlucky palace, as we have said before. 

There were two Maids of Honour in office. At first Mile. 
Bouvet (Mme. Carette) and Mile, de Kloeckler, who were , 
succeeded by Mile. Marion (later Countess Clary) and Mile, 
de Lermont. The post of reader to the Empress was occupied 
at various periods by Mile. Bouvet, the Countess de Pons de 
Wagner, a somewhat eccentric old lady,t and Mme. Lebreton 

* According to Mme. Carette's " Souvenirs," he told the lady that she 
reminded him of " Juno with the cow's eyes." If he had left out the last four 
words the Baroness would have felt flattered, but she disliked the allusion to 
a four-footed animal, particularly the one mentioned, 

t Mme. Carette relates that Mme. de Wagner usually wore a plain dark 
wig, but that on one occasion, when Hortense Schneider was turning every- 
body's head in Paris with her golden tresses as la Belle H616ne, the old lady 
arrived at the Tuileries wearing a new and curly wig of the fashionable aureate 
hue. Mme. Carette rushed from the room laughing at the sight, and the 
Empress, v<'ho met her and ascertained the cause, sent orders that Mme. da 



74 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

(sister of General Bourbaki), the well-remembered and devoted 
attendant who followed the Empress Eugenie into exile. The 
Maids of Honour (and eventually the Empress's reader) lived 
at the Tuileries, and one or other was on duty every morning, 
and accompanied her Majesty on her private visits to hospitals 
and charitable establishments. Much time was also given to 
classifying and putting away the Empress's correspondence, the 
greater part of which is still in existence, in her Majesty's 
custody. It may be added that the reader never actually read 
to the Empress — who preferred to do her reading herself, 
perusing several newspapers regularly — but she penned many 
letters such as the Empress did not care to have written by her 
" Secretaire des Commandements." 

It was a rule that the Court ladies should wear low-necked 
dresses every evening, but that their toilettes should be simple 
and their jewels few, unless there happened to be some grand 
entertainment. The rank of the Great Mistress of the House- 
hold was indicated by a superb medallion which she wore on 
her breast, and which had a portrait of the Emperor on one 
side and of the Empress on the other. After the birth of the 
Imperial Prince the "Governess of the Children of France" 
displayed a similar medallion. The Ladies of the Palace, for 
their part, wore, on the left side of their bodices, a jewel 
bearing the Empress's initial in diamonds set in blue enamel. 
All the insignia mentioned were surmounted by the imperial 
crown in brilliants, and hung from ribands striped blue and 
white. 

The men of the Empress's Household were first Count 
Tascher de la Pagerie, the Great Master, and his son, Count 
Charles, the First Chamberlain. They received dS'lGOO and 
=£•1200 a year respectively. The former, born at Martinique 
in 1787, had fought at the battle of Eylau and in Portugal 
under Junot. He had subsequently attached himself to the 
fortunes of Eugene de Beauharnais, and followed him to 
Bavaria. He returned to France in 1852 at the request of 

Wagner was to take of£ her golden wig at once and never come to the palace 
in it again. M. de Piennes, one of the chamberlains, persuaded the astonished 
. old lady (who had expected to be much admired) to take the wig back to 
the coiffeur of whom she had purchased it. 



THE EMPRESSES HOUSEHOLD 75 

Napoleon HI., who thereupon made him a senator. He had 
spent so many years in Bavaria, however, that he had become 
more a German than a Frenchman. His duties as Great 
Master were few and light, but being very gouty he left them 
almost invariably to Count Charles, who was still more of a 
German, having been born in Bavaria in 1822. Very ill 
favoured as regards his looks, and fond of grimacing, he had, 
as the Duke de Conegliano rightly says, no taste at all, as was 
shown when he arrayed the male members of the House- 
hold in vivid Bavarian blue. He was very intimate with all 
the secretaries and attaches of the various German embassies 
in Paris, and entertained them freely at his residence. His 
sister. Countess Stephanie Tascher de la Pagerie, a Canoness in 
Bavaria, was far more tasteful and much brighter. She held 
no Court office, merely residing with her father at the Tuileries, 
but she organized several of the most successful entertainments 
given at the palace, and has written an interesting account of 
her life there.* 

The chamberlains of the Empress, each in receipt of ,£'480 
a year, were Count de liezay-Marnesia, husband of the lady 
we previously mentioned and a connection of the Bonaparte 
family, the Marquis de Piennes and Count Artus de Cosse- 
Brissac. The Marquis d'Havrincourt also served for a short 
time. The three others Avere all of artistic tastes. The first 
painted in oils, the second was a sculptor, the third a good 
draughtsman. M. de Marnesia, who was tall, fair, and very 
good-looking, succeeded Count Charles Tascher as First 
Chamberlain in 1869. He was fond of dabbling in politics, 
like his colleague M. de Piennes, who married the daughter 
of Marshal MacMahon. Count Artus de Cosse-Brissac be- 
longed to a famous house with which Court functions were 
hereditary under the old French monarchy ; for in addition 
to the four of its members who became Marshals of France, 
one was Great Almoner, four were Great Falconers, while no 
fewer than ten successively became Great or First Pantlers to 
the King — the last only giving up his office in 1789. Count 
Artus, the Empress"'s chamberlain, was a man of lively and. 

* Botli the Counts Tascher de la Pagerie died at the Tuileries, the elder iu 
1861, the younger in 1869. 



76 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

open disposition. His wife was nee La Mothe-Houdancourt, 
another famous name in the days of the old regivie. 

It is said that when the selection of a Secretaire des 
Commandements to the Empress was mooted, she suggested 
Merimee for the post, and that Napoleon IH. was unwilling 
to appoint the author of " Carmen " and " Colomba." The 
story runs that the suggestion really emanated from Madame 
de Montijo, with whom Merimee's name was often associated 
in a very invidious manner. In any case the appointment was 
not made, the post being given to a certain M. Damas-Hinard, 
a little, bald-headed, smiling old man, who was always faultlessly 
arrayed in a glossy dress-coat and a white cravat, while that 
of librarian went to a M. de St. Albin, who delighted in very 
ancient hats and well-worn clothes, so creased and untidy, that 
it seemed as if he slept in them. 

The Empress"'s chief maid was Mme. Pollet, her assistants 
including the Demoiselles Bayle, daughters of the Emperor''s 
jailer during his imprisonment at Ham. Something will have 
to be said of Mme. Pollet when describing the routine of the 
Empress's daily life. It is now best to pass to some of the chief 
incidents which marked the Court's earlier years. 



CHAPTER IV 

QUEEN VICTORIA IN PARIS — BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL 

PRINCE 

The Corps L^gislatif and its Dancing Bears — The Crimean War and the 
" Entente Cordiale " with Great Britain — The Prince Consort at Boulogne 
— The first Paris International Exhibition — The Emperor and Empress 
visit Queen Victoria — The Despair of the Empress's Hairdresser — The 
first Lord Mayor seen by the Parisians — Queen Victoria's State Visit to 
France — The Emperor's narrow Escape from Death— The Queen's Eecep- 
tion in Paris — The Visit to the First Napoleon's Tomb — Queen Victoria 
and the Battle of Fontenoy — The Great Fete at Versailles — The Queen's 
Departure — ^Victor Emmanuel in Paris — Chevalier Nigra — The Birth of 
the Imperial Prince — Mishaps of the Empress Eugenie — The Layette and 
the Cradles — The Pope's quandary about baby-linen — The Governesses 
and Nurses — Twenty Hours of Suspense — The Guns of the Invalides — 
Appearance of the Imperial Prince — Th^ophile Gautier and Camille 
Doucet celebrate his birth — Civil List Benefactions — The Private and the 
Public Baptism — The Empress and the Golden Rose. 

HowEVEU great were the gaieties of the Second Empire, there 
was always a little rift in the lute even amid festivities which 
seemed the most likely to prove harmonious. Not long after 
the imperial marriage the deputies of the Corps Legislatif gave 
a ball in honour of the Empress. The hall of the Palais 
Bourbon where they met was transformed for the occasion into 
a magnificent dancing saloon, and both as an entertaining 
spectacle for those who did not dance and as a source of per- 
sonal physical enjoyment for those who did, the fete was a 
brilliant success. Rabelais' " uncomfortable quarter of an hour " 
ensued, however. It had been arranged that the entertain- 
ment should be a subscription affair, each deputy paying his 
quota of the expenses. The total outlay being about 6^4,800, 
it followed that the deputies were called upon to pay some six- 
teen guineas apiece. At that time they were being remunerated 



78 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

at the rate of dS'lOO a month for as long a period as any session 
lasted ; nevertheless a good many of them made somewhat 
wry faces when their dancing bill was presented. Ultimately, 
with but one exception, they all "paid up" — the exception 
being the famous Catholic politician the Count de Montalem- 
bert, who, having refused to attend the entertainment on the 
ground that it was quite indecent for deputies to disport 
themselves on the light fantastic toe, also refused to pay any 
subscription. At the same time, not wishing to appear 
niggardly, he decided to send sixteen guineas to the mayor 
of Besanpon (which town he represented in the Chamber), 
requesting him to add the amount to some apprenticeship fund 
which had been recently established there. The mayor, how- 
ever, dreadfully shocked at the idea of dealing in that fashion 
with money which, said he, ought to have been employed in 
ministering to the pleasures of the Empress, immediately sent 
it back to M. de Montalembert, who had to expend it in 
private charity. Such was the press regime of those times that 
the newspapers scarcely dared to comment on the affair either 
one way or the other ; still one of them ventured to remark : 
" It used to be said that the National Assembly of the defunct 
Republic was like a bear-garden, and indeed we remember many 
occasions when the representatives of the people were within an 
ace of clutching and clawing one another. We have progressed 
since then, as everybody is aware. And frankly, for our part, 
we infinitely prefer to see our bears tamed and dancing." That 
season, in those circles of Parisian society which were inimical 
to the Empire, the deputies of the Legislative Body were freely 
called " the dancing bears." 

In September that year (1853) the Emperor and Empress 
went on a tour through parts of Normandy and northern 
France. They next betook themselves to Compi^gne and 
Fontainebleau, where for a while no little gaiety prevailed. 
But clouds were gathering, and early in the following year 
the Crimean War began. The French Republicans were not 
displeased to see the Empire (which was to have been Peace) 
already embroiled with a foreign power, for they anticipated 
complications that would give them an opportunity to over- 
throw the regime. Victor Hugo, " perched on the rock of 



QUEEN VICTORIA IN PARIS 79 

Jersey," expressed himself in that sense in some grandiloquent 
apocalyptical verses ; while others declared that the Empire was 
evidently in sore straits, as it recognized that it must speedily 
collapse unless it could secure a baptism of glory. 

No matter what may have been said, however, by the 
" irreconcilables " of that time, or by Frenchmen generally in 
these later years of the more or less stable Russian alliance, it 
is certain that the Crimean War was popular with the great 
mass of the nation. Moreover, the rapprocheinent with England 
which had been going on ever since the Coup d'Etat (in spite of 
the outspokenness of the English press with respect to the 
Emperor and many of those around him), was gradually meeting 
with greater and greater favour. Several little incidents 
contributed to that result. The British Government had pre- 
sented the will of Napoleon I. to the new Emperor ; cordial 
speeches had been exchanged on the occasion of the visit of 
some of the chief London merchants to Paris ; a project for the 
piercing of a Panama canal with British capital and French 
support had been mooted with some success; and pleasant 
courtesies had attended the reception of the English colony at 
Boulogne during an imperial visit to that town. 

Various matters of that kind, coupled with the agreement 
of the French and English Governments on the Russo-Turkish 
question, helped to draw the two nations together. There 
was, of course, no unanimous approval of the rapprochement. 
Unanimity was impossible. There were still, on both sides, too 
many people alive who retained a vivid memory of Waterloo, 
which was then only thirty-nine years old. Besides, French- 
men barely of middle age readily recalled all the trouble over 
Mehemet Ali, the Spanish marriages, the Pritchard affair and 
other matters, which had repeatedly endangered the enteiite 
cordidle of the two countries during the reign of Louis Philippe.* 
But Waterloo alone was a terrible memory, such as it is hardly 
possible for people of the present generation to conceive ; and, 
curiously enough, while on the one hand the Second Empire 

* According to Littre, the expression entente cordiale, as applied to the 
relations of France and Great Britain, was first employed in 1840, in an 
Address of the French Chamber of Deputies to the Crown. We believe, how- 
ever, that it originated a few years previously. 



80 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

sought to obliterate it, on the other it lent it continuity of life 
by its repeatedly declared ambition to " tear up the treaties of 
1815." We now live at a much faster pace than we did then. 
Never was the saying " here to-day and gone to-morrow " more 
appropriate than it is at present. Yet there are things which 
remain unforgotten even amid the helter-skelter of these quick- 
change days. In Finance the memory of Sedan abides even as 
did the memory of Waterloo, and who can tell when it will pass 
away ? Not, perhaps, for many years. Little interest may now 
attach to the Crimean War, but it is a question whether Lord 
Salisbury's dictum, about putting " money on the wrong horse," 
ought not to be qualified. In any case, that war was not 
without its happy consequences, for it did more than anything 
else to bring Frenchmen and Englishmen together. There was 
trouble again between them not long afterwards, but only 
passing trouble. The sting of Waterloo was virtually healed 
by Alma and Inkermann. 

In the autumn of 1854 the Emperor was at Boulogne inspect- 
ing and reviewing the forces there. In one of his addresses to 
the troops at that time he remarked, sagely enough : " Any 
army whose different parts cannot be united in four and twenty 
hours is an army badly distributed." The aphorism was based 
on the dicta of the first Napoleon, and it was a pity for France 
that the third one did not remember it sixteen years afterwards. 
While he was at Boulogne he received a visit from the Prince 
Consort, in whose honour various manoeuvres took place. A 
little later the Empress arrived from Biarritz, and accompany- 
ing Napoleon on horseback, participated in the reviewing of the 
troops. Then came a brief period of rejoicing, for the victory 
of the Alma tended to the belief that the war would be short. 
But St. Arnaud died, the Russians retired on Sebastopol, and 
in spite of Inkermann all hope of a speedy peace departed. 
Thus there were no fetes at Compiegne or Fontainebleau that 
autumn ; the Court was almost in mourning. 

In the spring of 1855 public attention was in a measure 
diverted from the Crimea by the first of the Paris international 
exhibitions, for which a company erected, at a cost of half a 
million sterling, the huge building, some 900 feet in length, 
known as the Palais de Tlndustrie and for many years a 



QUEEN VICTORIA IN PARIS 81 

conspicuous feature of the Champs Elysees.* A raohT;h before 
the inauguration of this world-show (in which Russia, naturally, 
did not participate) the Emperor and Empress went to England 
on a visit to Queen Victoria. This was quite an event. In 
attendance on Napoleon were Marshal Vaillant, the Duke de 
Bassano, General de Montebello, Edgar Ney, Count Fleury, 
and M. de Toulongeon, while the Empress's retinue included 
the Princess d'Essling, the Countess de Montebello, the Baroness 
de Malaret, and Count Charles Tascher de la Pagerie. Fleury, 
who made all the arrangements for the journey, blundered 
badly by dividing the retinue into various sections, for, as the 
yachts in which the imperial party crossed the Channel became 
separated, the Emperor and Empress had already reached 
London when some of their attendants were barely landing 
at Dover. A special train conveyed the belated ones at full 
speed to the metropolis, though not in time to overtake the 
others, who had already left for W^indsor. 

As Fleury was getting into the court-landau which was 
to carry him to Paddington he was accosted by an individual 
with a greenish hue and woebegone expression of countenance 
whom he did not recognize, but who earnestly entreated 
permission to get up behind with the footmen. "But who 
may you be ? " Fleury somewhat sharply inquired. " I am 
Felix, her Majesty the Empress's hairdresser," was the reply, 
" and I am in despair at being left behind ! What her 
Majesty will do without me I cannot tell, but I feel like 
cutting my throat ! " The position was indeed serious : the 
Empress already at Windsor and no coiffeur to dress her hair 
for dinner ! What a disaster ! " Quick, then, get up behind," 
said Fleury, and away the party went. When they arrived at 
Windsor Fleury hastened to inform the Empress of the incident. 
" Tell Felix not to distress himself," said she, laughing ; " he 
must on no account commit suicide. We want no aifaire 
Vatel here.t My maids have done their best for me in his 
absence." 

* Other buildings, costing another quarter of a million sterling, were also 
erected. The enterprise, though successful in many ways, resulted in a heavy 
deficit for the company, which was only extricated from its difficulties by the 
purchase of the Palais de I'lndustrie by the State. 

t The reader will remember that Vatel, the Prince de Conde''s cook, spitted 

G 



82 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

At this time Napoleon appears to have created a favourable 
impression on Queen Victoria, and she was especially pleased 
with the Empress, whose manner was " the most perfect thing " 
she had ever seen, "so gentle and graceful . . . the courtesy 
so charming, and so modest and retiring withal." The stay at 
Windsor was marked by a review of troops under Lord 
Cardigan of Balaclava fame, and by a council of war which pro- 
nounced unanimously against a project then entertained by the 
Emperor of proceeding in person to the Crimea, in order to 
hasten the military operations. For the time he was unwilling 
to relinquish that scheme, though he ultimately abandoned it, 
as we shall see. During his sojourn at Windsor he was installed 
with all pomp and ceremony as a Knight of the Garter, a 
distinction which, as a parvenu Emperor, he rightly prized. 
The French Moniteur, when publishing a grandiloquent 
account of the proceedings, laid particular emphasis on the fact 
that Queen Victoria had distinguished his Majesty by giving 
him the accolade on either cheek, instead of merely tendering 
him her hand as was her custom when other Knights of the 
Garter were installed. Later, upon the Emperor and Empress 
going to London, they were banqueted by the Corporation of 
the City, when the most cordial speeches were exchanged in 
celebration of the Franco-British alliance. All this had effect 
on public opinion, not only in England and France, but also on 
the continent generally. The authority of Napoleon III. as a 
sovereign was enhanced, consolidated, both amang his own 
people and in foreign states — such was the benefit reaped by 
those who secured the favour of Great Britain, such her prestige 
under Palmerston. 

Bat there was more to come. After the opening of the Paris 
Exhibition on the return of the imperial party to France, the 
Lord Mayor of London and numerous members of the corporation 
went in state to the French capital, where their visit awakened 
great interest and curiosity. The Lord Mayor of that time. 
Sir Francis Graham Moon — the famous fine-art publisher who 
did so much to popularize Wilkie, Eastlake, Landseer, Roberts, 
Stanfield, Cattermole, and others — had often been in France 

himself with, his sword because the fish was late in arriving on the occasion of 
Louis XIV.'s famous visit to Ohantilly. 



QUEEN VICTORIA IN PARIS 83 

previously as a private individual, but this was the first time 
that the Parisians were privileged to gaze upon a " Lor' Maire '' 
arrayed in all his pomp and glory, with his chain of office 
hanging from his shoulders, and his attendant mace-bearer, 
sword-bearer and trumpeters, besides all such satellites as 
sheriffs, aldermen, and common councillors robed in scarlet or 
mazarine. Frenchmen knew very little about the Corporation 
of London, but their novelists had taught them to regard it as 
a wonderful, mysterious survival of the middle ages, and Milor' 
Maire's authority in England was supposed to be second only 
to that of the Queen herself. Sir Francis Moon and his family 
were sumptuously lodged at the H6tel de Ville, the other 
visitors were suitably provided for, and receptions, balls, and 
banquets, in which the Imperial Court as well as the Parisian 
municipality participated, became the order of the day. 

If that were the first time that Paris had ever gazed upon a 
Lord Mayor, some four and a half centuries had elapsed since 
a reigning sovereign of England had set foot within the city's 
walls. Since the departure of the infant Henry VL, crowned 
at Notre Dame, only two exiled English sovereigns — Charles II. 
before the Restoration and James II. after the Glorious Revo- 
lution — had been seen in the French capital. Now, however, 
Queen Victoria, still further cementing the alliance of the two 
countries, came to visit Paris and the Exhibition. Accompanied 
by the Prince Consort, the Princess Royal and the Prince of 
Wales (now, of course, Edward VII.), she crossed the Channel 
from Osborne to Boulogne, where she was received by Napoleon 
III., who had resolved to escort her to his capital. 

On the morning of August 18, before the royal yacht and 
the attendant British squadron were sighted from the port, the 
Emperor, accompanied by Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers, rode 
to the heights to ascertain if from that point of vantage 
anything could be discerned of his visitors' approach. Halting 
his horse at a short distance from the overhanging cliff, he let 
the reins hang on the animal's neck, while, with both hands, he 
raised a pair of field glasses to his eyes. All at once, the horse, 
startled perhaps by some action on the part of a few men who 
were digging a trench near by, bounded forward, the Emperor's 
hat flew off, and he precipitately dropped his glasses in order to 



84 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

seize the reins and check the impetuous animal. He was an 
expert equestrian — indeed, little as he might look it, he had 
been quite a dare-devil rider in his younger days, as Lord 
Malmesbury and others who then knew him have testified — still 
his danger was real, and it was only with the very greatest 
difficulty and by the combined force of skill and muscles that 
he was able to pull his horse back upon its haunches when it 
was within but a foot or two of the depths yawning beyond 
the cliff. In after years Napoleon referred more than once to 
that incident. He had never feared, said he, the bombs or 
bullets of would-be assassins, but, for just one second, on the 
cliff of Boulogne, he had felt that he could see death staring 
him in the face.* 

That same afternoon at two o'clock the Queen landed at 
Boulogne, and shortly before seven she made her entry into Paris. 
For several days people had been flocking into the city ; £12 
was the lowest price for a window overlooking the Boulevards, 
and the footways were packed for miles with enthusiastic sight- 
seers. The decorations inside and around the railway station, 
the triumphal arches on the Boulevards, were such as only 
Parisian taste can devise. It is unnecessary to dwell on the 
undoubted warmth of the reception given to the Queen as she 
drove by in an open carriage drawn by four horses — the 
Princess Royal sitting by her side, and the Prince Consort and 
the Emperor sharing the front seat. Cannon boomed, flags 
fluttered, bands played the National Anthem, soldiers presented 
arms, and ladies waved their handkerchiefs, while Paris cheered 
as, within the memory of its oldest inhabitant, it had never 
cheered before. Night was setting in when the procession 

* It is unprofitable to speculate on the " ifs " of history, but it may be 
pointed out that a curious situation would have arisen had the Emperor met 
with a fatal accident on the occasion referred to. The Empress was then 
enceinte, but as yet the Constitution contained no provision respecting a 
Eegency. Such provision was only made in 1856 (Senatus-consultum of 
July 17). As matters stood in 1855, it seems as if the Ministers in office 
would have had to form themselves into a " Government Council," which 
would have exercised Regency powers — perhaps until the Imperial Prince 
attained his majority. Even the Senatus-consultum of 1856 left several 
points in uncertainty, to dispel which the Emperor, on February 1, 1858, 
expressly issued Letters Patent designating the Empress Eugenie as Regent 
in the event of his death. — " Organisation politique de I'Empire Fran9ais." 
Paris, 1867. 



QUEEN VICTORIA IN PARIS 85 

reached the Bois de Boulogne, but the troopers of the escort 
had been provided with torches, which they lighted and carried 
aloft as they rode before, beside, and after the carriages through 
the broad avenues going towards St. Cloud. 

It was there that the royal party was to stay, there that 
the Empress, then in an interesting state of health, was waiting. 
Beautiful rooms had been assigned to the Queen, and every 
possible provision made for her comfort, one of the State 
upholsterers having proceeded some time previously to Windsor 
in order that the appointments of the royal bed-chamber might 
include everything to which the Queen was accustomed. In 
fact, the Emperor carried his solicitude so far as to order 
careful replicas of her favourite reading-chair and table — the 
sight of these replicas on her arrival at St. Cloud fiUing her 
with astonishment. General de Montebello, the Marquis de La 
Grange, Count Fleury, Mme. de Saulcy, and the Countess de 
La Bedoyere were attached to the Queen's person during her 
stay, which was spent in a round of sight-seeing, receptions 
and entertainments. Wherever she appeared, at the Exhibition, 
in the streets of Paris, or in the grounds of Versailles, she was 
received with the warmest acclamations, but, as usual, there 
was a little rift in the lute. 

It became known at the Tuileries that the Queen wished to 
visit the tomb of Napoleon I. at the Invalides, of which old 
Prince Jerome was Governor. At that time he was staying at 
Havre, and when the Emperor requested him to return to 
Paris, in order that he might do the honours of the Invalides 
to the Queen, he feigned illness to avoid obeying the command. 
Unfortunately, he could not control his tongue, and the truth 
leaked out. " He had fought at Waterloo," said he, " and he 
was not going to exhibit his brother's tomb to the descendants 
of those who had sent the great man to perish on the rock of 
St. Helena. He had no fancy for crocodile's tears, such as 
those English royalties would doubtless shed." Meantime, the 
Emperor had suggested to Marshal Vaillant that he, in default 
of Prince Jerome, should receive the Queen at the Invalides ; but 
that old soldier of the first Empire, though frequently in contact 
with the royal visitors, was apparently influenced by feelings 
akin to Jerome's. At all events, he eluded the duty by pleading 



86 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

that it was surely one which a Prince of the Imperial House 
ought to discharge. Eventually, the visit was made in privacy, 
and just before the Queen's departure. Prince Jerome, alarmed 
by threats of the Emperor's displeasure, came from Havre to 
St. Cloud to pay her his respects. 

Apropos of those incidents, mentioned here because they 
illustrate previous remarks on the memory of ^Vaterloo, it may 
be added that on one occasion, when the Queen was confronted 
by the souvenir of former hostilities between the two nations, 
she met the difficulty in a happy manner. It was in the Galerie 
des Batailles at the Palace of Versailles. "And what is that 
engagement ? " she inquired, as she passed along, indicating a 
painting in which an army was shown retreating in disorder, 
hard-pressed by a victorious foe. Napoleon III. was momen- 
tarily embarrassed. He replied, however, " It is the battle of 
Fontenoy. Your Majesty must overlook it — such subjects are 
scarce with us." " I wish," the Queen retorted, " that for the 
sake of both our countries all such warlike subjects were scarcer 
still." 

The three principal entertainments which marked the royal 
visit were a gala performance at the Paris Opera-house, a ball 
at the Hotel de Ville, and another at Versailles. The scene on 
the last occasion was magical. For a few hours the great 
deserted palace became as animated, as crowded, as full of state 
and splendour as in the palmiest days of Louis XIV. There 
were flowers everywhere, banks of flowers lining every staircase, 
festoons of flowers hanging around every room. The great 
Galerie des Glaces — where flfteen years later the victorious 
King of Prussia was to be hailed as German Emperor^ — pre- 
sented, amid the blaze of thousands of wax candles, as brilliant 
a scene as Cochin depicted in that engraving which is his 
masterpiece. True, no cardplay was in progress, there was 
no Louis Quinze turning up the ace of hearts, no Madame de 
Pompadour beside him, no bewigged courtiers standing around, 
with their hands thrust in their muffs. But the ladies in their 
crinolines recalled the old-time ladies in their lace-flounced 
hoops, particularly as, that year, 1855, white silk and satin 
covered with the costliest Chantilly were the grande mode for 
evening wear. And at Versailles the Queen, the Empress, and 



QUEEN VICTORIA IN PARIS 87 

all the other ladies displayed as many diamonds as ever flashed 
upon any great gala gathering of the old regime. The Queen 
danced, as she had done at the Hotel de Ville, opening the ball 
with the Emperor, while the Prince Consort and the Princess 
Mathilde were their vis-d-vis. The Empress, however, was not 
allowed to disport herself in that fashion. She had contrived 
to attend the fete in defiance of her physicians, but they asserted 
their authority when the question of dancing was mooted. 
After all, the ball was only one part of the entertainment, for 
the gardens of Versailles, like the palace itself, were wonderfully 
illuminated. The fountains seemed to be throwing myriads of 
rubies, topazes, emeralds, and sapphires into the air, and the 
basins, across which glided the gondolas of fairyland, coruscated 
like rippling, seething masses of molten gems.* 

During her stay in France, Queen Victoria was at the 
Tuileries on various occasions. She lunched there one day, and 
afterwards called there to take formal leave of the Empress and 
the French Court. Her departure was an imposing ceremony. 
On quitting the palace, although she was simply attired in a 
plain grey silk travelling costume, she entered the great state 
coach, all gilding and carving, which had done duty on the 
occasion of the imperial wedding. This time, fortunately, the 
crown on the summit did not fall off. At measured pace went 
the huge vehicle, drawn by eight splendid horses, richly capari- 
soned, and bestridden or attended by postilions and grooms in 
gala liveries. Other superb equipages followed, and there was 
a dazzling escort of Carabineers and Guides and Hussars com- 
manded by Marshals and Generals arrayed in full uniform, and 
mounted on milk-white chargers, all going in pompous procession 
towards the railway station, amid plaudits every whit as 
enthusiastic as those which had greeted the Queen's arrival 
The Emperor and Prince Napoleon accompanied the royal 
visitors to Boulogne, where 50,000 troops were reviewed before 
the farewell dinner at the imperial pavilion. At last, at 
eleven o'clock that night, the Queen, amid the crash of artillery, 

* There was also a great display of fireworks, the principal set-piece of 
which was a representation of Windsor Castle, with the royal standard waving 
over it, and the legend, "God save the Queen." The Imperial Civil List 
spent £20,000 on this one f6te at Versailles. 



88 THI^ COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

went on board the Victoria and Albert, and the memorable visit 
was at an end. 

There were again gay doings in Paris a few weeks later, 
the news of the fall of Sebastopol being received with popular 
rejoicings and a solemn " Te Deum " at Notre Dame. Another 
great pageant ensued in November, when the Emperor distributed 
the awards to the prize-winners of the Exhibition. About 
this time the Duke and Duchess of Brabant (the former now 
King of the Belgians) came on a visit to the Tuileries, and 
were followed by Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia, attended by his 
astute minister Cavour. The Italian party afterwards crossed 
over to England, but when Cavour was returning to Turin he 
left his young secretary. Chevalier Nigra, behind him in Paris 
to act as Sardinian Minister there. Possessed of several artistic 
gifts, and somewhat of a Bohemian in his ways. Chevalier Nigra 
Avas nevertheless a diplomatist of great talent — one who as 
Cavour's alter ego at the side of Napoleon III. contributed in 
no small degree to the Liberation of Italy. A conspicuous 
figure at the Court of the Tuileries, he contrived to secure the 
favour of the Empress Eugenie, although he was the unflagging 
supporter of political interests which were absolutely opposed 
to those she had at heart. Many a secret battle was waged 
between them over the Italian question in its relations to the 
independence of the Pope, yet Nigra with his bright smile, his 
clean-cut face, his triumphant moustache, and his soft voice, was 
ever persona gratissima in the petits appartements when the 
Empress gathered her more particular friends around her. At 
the supreme hour of her distress in 1870 he, like Prince Richard 
Metternich, the Austrian ambassador, hastened to her help. 
It was they who escorted her out of the Tuileries to the vehicle 
in which she, drove to Dr. Evans's, an Empress no longer but a 
fugitive. 

Victor Emmanuel had an enthusiastic reception in Paris, less 
(at that period) on account of French sympathy with the cause 
of Italian independence than on account of the participation of 
the Sardinian contingent in the Crimean campaign. A little 
later (in December, 1856) the Parisians celebrated the return 
of the Imperial Guard from the war. Then, early in the new 
year, while the Peace Conference assembled at the Quai d'Orsay, 



BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 89 

public attention was turned to the Empress, who was known 
to have been enceinte since the previous summer. There had 
been reason for her to expect the birth of a child twice previously, 
but a mishap had occurred on each occasion. As early as 
April 30, 1853,* the Moniteur — the official journal of the 
Empire — published the following announcement : " Her Majesty 
the Empress, who had been enceinte for two months past and 
who during the last few days had been feeling somewhat in- 
disposed, had a miscarriage yesterday evening, April 29. Her 
Majesty's state of health is as satisfactory as is possible under 
the circumstances." This announcement took everybody by 
surprise, for no official notification of the Empress's condition 
had ever been issued, and Viel Castel, in his " Memoirs," very 
properly trounces the Court functionaries for publishing the 
mishap to the world in the way they did. We believe that on 
the second occasion there was no official announcement at all, 
either one way or the other, though of course the truth leaked 
out and became known to a considerable number of people. 
Those two mishaps, it should be mentioned, had awakened the 
kindly interest of Queen Victoria, who when the Emperor and 
Empress visited Windsor insisted that the latter should consult 
Sir Charles Locock, one of the royal physicians. Further, if we 
remember rightly, the Queen sent the Marchioness of Ely to 
France to be in attendance on the Empress when, early in 
1856, she again expected the birth of a child. 

Throughout the first fortnight in March Paris did not cease 
wondering whether the Emperor would be presented with a son 
or a daughter. The birth of a girl would make no difference 
in the appointed order of succession to the throne, for the 
Second Empire had retained the Salic Law which adjudges 
women to be unworthy of the crown. Thus, if a Princess should 
be born, the Jerome branch of the Bonapartes would retain the 
right of succession, and such was its unpopularity that every- 
body hoped the expected babe would be a boy. Meantime all 
needful preparations were made for the auspicious event. Day 
after day the Rue Vivienne was blocked with the carriages of 
ladies anxious to view the costly layette, which had been ordered 

* The marriage, it will be remembered, had taken place on January 29-30 
that year. 



90 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

of the renowned Mme. Felicie, and which included everything 
that a child, boy or gh'l, could possibly require until it was two 
years old. There was also an ormolu bassinet costing .£'1000, 
with hangings of blue silk and Mechlin lace, sheets edged with 
Valenciennes, and a white satin coverlet embroidered with the 
imperial crown and eagle in gold — these representing another 
£1600. The state cradle was, however, a far more expensive 
affair, being a marvel of the goldsmith's art executed by Froment 
Meurice at the expense of the city of Paris, in whose name it 
was presented to the Empress. A ship, it will be remembered, 
appears on the city's escutcheon, and this cradle took the form 
of a vessel, at whose poop stood a silver figure of Paris robed in 
gold and raising an imperial crown of the same precious metal, 
whence fell the cradle's curtains. Beneath the figure of Paris 
were two sea-deities glancing in a kindly protecting way towards 
the interior of the cradle, while lower still, at each corner of 
the hull, appeared mermaids with tails entwined. Right at the 
stern a shield of gold was emblazoned Avith the arms of Paris, 
around which went a scroll with the city's motto, Fluctuat nee 
mergitiir. Tlie ship's prow was supported by a golden eagle 
with open wings, and on either side of the rosewood hull, inlaid 
with silver, were medallions of blue enamel figuring Prudence, 
Strength, Vigilance, and Justice. The interior was lined with 
pale blue satin ; and the most beautiful lace formed or adorned 
the curtains, coverlet and pillow. 

Prior to the Empress's accouchement the widow of Admiral 
Bruat, the gallant officer who had commanded the French fleet 
in the Black Sea, was named " Governess of the Children of 
France," the widows of General Bizot and Colonel de Brancion 
— both killed before Sebastopol — becoming " Under Governesses." 
Further, from among a large number of candidates from all 
parts of France the Court physicians carefully selected as wet- 
nurse a bright, comely, intelligent peasant woman of Macon, 
who, pending the Empress's delivery, continued suckling her own 
child, a boy about two months old. The Emperor, however, as 
will be remembered, had long lived in England, and had there 
formed a very favourable opinion of the manner in which English 
children were reared, so he decided that an English woman should 
be chief nurse, and engaged a lady, named Shaw, for the post. 



BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 91 

So general was the anticipation that the expected child 
would be a boy that thousands of people signed a petition 
praying the Emperor to bestow the title of " King of Algeria " 
on the infant, in imitation, of course, of that of "King of 
Rome " given to the son of Napoleon I. The latter title would 
naturally have been out of place in the case of the third 
Napoleon's heir — the more so as it had been arranged that 
Pope Pius IX. was to be godfather of the expected babe. An 
amusing story was circulated respecting that sponsorship. 
Although, as we have already mentioned, a very sumptuous 
layette had been ordered in Paris, his Holiness thought it his 
duty also to provide one ; but when the question of the articles 
which it ought to include and their cost was mooted at the 
Vatican, neither the Pope nor any of the Cardinals who were 
called into council was able to give an opinion. Had they been 
married men they would soon have been extricated from the 
difficulty by their wives, but they had none, and when it was 
suggested that a certain Monsignore should make inquiries at a 
Roman baby-linen warehouse, the poor man nearly succumbed 
to an attack of apoplexy in his alarm as to what might be 
thought of him if he were to carry the suggestion into effect. 
Eventually one of their Eminences remembered that he had a 
married sister, whose services were duly requisitioned. 

On the morning of Saturday, March 15, 1856, it was 
believed that the birth would take place before the day had 
elapsed. The Princess d'Essling, as Great Mistress of the 
Empress's Household, at once sent word to the Princes of 
the Imperial Family, who betook themselves in all haste to 
the Tuileries. The news sped through Paris like lightning, 
and while crowds of people assembled on the Place du 
Carrousel, in the Tuileries garden, and in the Rue de Rivoli, 
preparations for illuminating the city in the evening were 
hurried forward in every direction, and all day long the old 
artillerymen of the Invalides stood to their guns, with matches 
in readiness to fire the salute directly the signal flame should 
go up from the Tuileries. None was seen, though hour after 
hour went by. The whole day passed, the Emperor, the 
Countess de Montijo, the Princess d'Essling, the doctors and 
the nurses staying with the Empress all the time, while the 



92 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Princes of the Bonaparte family, the great dignitaries of the 
Empire, the aides-de-camp and other officers remained in 
adjacent rooms, installed there virtually en permanence, and 
scarcely venturing to absent themselves for a few minutes 
to snatch a bite of food. The evening fell, then night, and 
still everybody was waiting. Special services were held in the 
churches, special prayers were offered up on the Empress's 
behalf. At last, about half-past two o'clock on the morning 
of the 16th (Palm Sunday), the decisive moment seemed to be 
near, and, in accordance with the prescribed ceremonial, the 
Minister of State and the Keeper of the Seals, with Prince 
Napoleon, Prince Charles Bonaparte,* and Prince Lucien Murat, 
were ushered into the Empress's chamber, that they might 
witness the birth of the imperial offspring. The sudden arrival 
of so many people, however, had a most unfortunate effect on 
the patient, the course of nature was suspended, and the doctors 
were compelled to resort to surgical treatment. At last, at a 
quarter past three o'clock, the child, a boy, was brought into 
the world. t 

For hours and hours, all through the day and through the 
night, the crowd had been waiting outside the Tuileries. 
Suddenly two lights appeared at a window of the palace on 
the Carrousel side, and a loud acclamation immediately arose. 
If there had been but one light it would have meant that a 
Princess had been born, but two lights signified the birth of 
a Prince. However, the people who were massed on other sides 
of the palace and who saw nothing of those lights were still in 
uncertainty, and waited for the salute. At last the guns of 
the Invalides began booming, and, as on March 20, 1811, when 
the King of Rome came into the world, and September 30, 
1820, when the widowed Duchess de Berri gave birth to the 
" Child of the Miracle," so now, again, the attentive multitude 
counted report after report. A salute of twenty-one guns 
would mean a girl, a salute of a hundred and one a boy. One 

* Representing his father, Prince Louis Lucien, who had met with a bad 
accident, 

t Baron Dubois, the Empress's surgeon-accoucheur, received a fee of 
£1200 for his services. Although the Empress appeared in public again 
within a few months, a very long time elapsed before her health was com- 
pletely re-established. 



BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 93 

after another the detonations rang out with the utmost 
precision, under the wild March sky. Twenty-one — then 
silence. For a moment the listeners felt grievously dis- 
appointed. But all at once a twenty-second report was 
heard, and then the salute continued with the same precision 
as before. As the Parisians finally turned their steps home- 
ward, many of them wondered why there had been a pause 
after the twenty-first report. On the morrow the newspapers 
enlightened them. An old wooden-legged artillei-yman of the 
first Napoleon, who was among those firing the guns at the 
Invalides, had stumbled and fallen at the critical moment of 
the salute, and this had caused the brief delay. 

The etiquette of the Tuileries Court did not require that 
a newly born infant of the imperial house should be at once 
deposited on a gold salver and exhibited to all the assembled 
functionaries of the State, as we once saw an Infanta of Spain 
exhibited immediately after her birth ; nevertheless Mme. Bruat 
ceremoniously presented the Imperial Prince to his father and 
the relatives and ministers assembled in the Empress's apart- 
ments. Then due entry of the birth was made in the imperial 
register, and telegrams were despatched to the Pope, the Queen 
of Sweden (the godmother), the Grand Duchess of Baden, Queen 
Victoria, and others. It was then barely four o'clock in the 
morning, and it was regarded as a curious circumstance that 
congratulatory answers to the telegrams should have been 
received within a couple of hours — for this testified to the 
activity of the world's great personages at a time when 
the community at large is usually wrapped in slumber. The 
members of the Senate and the Legislative Body had remained 
waiting at their respective palaces until half-past one o'clock — 
having their wives and daughters with them to keep them 
company, and indulging both in music and champagne to 
beguile the tedium of the hours. At last a message from the 
Tuileries sent them home, but at 8 a.m. they re-assembled to 
receive official notification of the great event. 

The ill-starred Imperial Prince, whose advent was enthusi- 
astically celebrated in so many directions, was at birth a well- 
developed child, with an abundance of dark hair, resembling his 
father's, and features that in an infant seemed of an unusually 



94 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

marked character. During his early childhood, indeed, the 
Empress often said of him to Count Fleury : " Louis will be 
dreadfully ugly ; he already has a nose like a man's." But it 
happened that he grew up fairly good looking, with a virile 
face, no doubt, yet with something of his mother's expression 
to soften the features which he had derived from his father. 

After mass in the chapel of the Tuileries at noon that 
day, the ondoiement, or private baptism, of the new-born " Son 
of France" took place there. Four Cardinals, all the great 
dignitaries of the State, the Emperor, and the Princes of 
the Blood were present. It was the Bishop of Nancy, First 
Almoner of the Household, who officiated, pouring the 
baptismal water on the infant's head from a golden ewer. 
The boy was named Napoleon and Louis after his father, 
Eugene after his mother, Jean after the Pope, and Joseph 
after the Queen of Sweden, his godmother, her name being 
Josephine. At the conclusion of the ceremony he was carried 
in state to his apartments, and this time a whole host of 
officials was able to catch a glimpse of the new heir to the 
throne. Paris, of course, illuminated her monuments and her 
houses that night, though the rain fell incessantly ; and in the 
meantime addresses of congratulation poured in from all parts 
of the provinces. It was a repetition of what had happened 
when the King of Rome and the Duke de Bordeaux and the 
Count de Paris were born. They, also, had been saluted as 
the hope of the country, as its future rulers, yet none of them 
had reigned. Still, in that month of March, 1856, people 
fancied that Fate must surely be weary of pursuing the heirs 
of France. The poets, for their part, entertained no fears for 
the future. In the Moniteur, on the morrow of the Imperial 
Prince's birth, The'ophile Gautier sang as follows : — 

Au vieus palais des Tuileries, 

Charge d^ja d'un grand destin, 
Parmi le luxe et les faeries, 

Un enfant est ni§ ce matin. 

Aux premiers rayons de I'aurore, 

Dans les rayons de I'Orient, 
Quand la ville dormait encore, 

II est venu, frais et riant. . . , 



BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 95 

Et le canon des Invalides, 

Tonnerre mel6 de rayons, 
Fait partout aux foules avides 

Compter ses detonations. 

Au bruit du fracas insolite, 

Qui fait trembler son pi6destal, 
S'emeut le glorieux Stylite 

Sur son bronze monumental.* 

Les aigles du socle s'agitent, 

Essayant de prendre leur vol, 
Et leurs ailes d'airain palpitent, 

Comme au jour de S6bastopol. 

Mais ce n'est pas une victoire 

Que chantent cloches et canons. 
Sur I'Arc de Triomphe I'Histoire 

Ne salt plus oii graver les noms. 

C'est un J^sus a tete blonde, 

Qui porte en sa petite main. 
Pour globe bleu, la pais du monde 

Et le bonheur du genre humain. 

La creche est faite en bois de rose, 

Ses rideaux sont couleur d'azur, 
Paisible, en sa conque il repose, 

Oar fluctuat nee mergitur. 

Sur lui la France 6tend son aile. 

A son nouveau-ne, pour berceau, 
D^licatesse maternelle, 

Paris a pretd son vaisseau. 

Qu'un bonbeur fidMe accompagna 

L'enfant imperial qui dort, 
Blanc comme les jasmins d'Espagne, 

Blond comme les abeilles d'or ! f 

Camille Doucet was yet more emphatic with respect to the 
destiny of the imperial infant, and declared roundly that the 
days of mischance and instability were quite past : 

Trois fois, depuis quarante ann^es, 

S'est rempli le berceau des rois ; 
Et trois fois se sont d6tourn6e3 
Les infid^les destinies. 

Qui I'avaient salue trois fois. 

* Napoleon I. on the Vendome column. 

t The bees of the Bonapartes. Gautier was wrong, however, in calling the 
Prince blond. He had a fresh, clear complexion, but his hair was dark. 



96 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Pareil au berceau de Moise, 

Sur les flots battu sans espoir, 
Toujours une vague insoumise, 
Lui fermant la terre promise, 

L'emportant sans qu'il put la voir : 

La France, apres mille naufrages, 

Impatiente de repos, 
S'^lancjait vers tous les rivages, 
Souriait a tous les presages, 

S'abritait sous tous les drapeaus. 

C'est la fin des heures de doute, 

Des foUes instabilit^s, 
Plus de perils que Ton redoute, 
Plus de berceaux perdus en route, 

Plus de trones d6sli6rit6s ! . . . 

Dors, enfant, et que Dieu t'inspire ! 

Dormez aussi, m^re sans peur. 
La France, qui pour vous conspire, 
Vous donnait nagu^re un empire, 

Vous lui donnez un Empereur 1 

In celebration of the Prince's birth, the Emperor and 
Empress offered to act as godfather and godmother to all the 
children born in France on the same day as their son. The 
number was no less than 3000, nevertheless presents were sent 
to all the parents. There were also handsome donations from 
the Civil List to the poor relief-offices of the municipalities, and 
to the various associations of authors, composers, painters, and 
actors. A still more pleasant feature was the granting of 
freedom or of permission to return to France to all the 
remaining political prisoners or exiles of the Coup d'Etat who 
would undertake to submit to the Government of the country 
and respect the laws. A good many accepted that condition, 
but the irreconcilables, led by Victor Hugo, contemptuously 
spurned the Emperor's offer. It was the little rift in the lute 
again. Some jarring note always made itself heard amid the 
most enthusiastic strains of the Empire's partisans. 

Early in April, 1856, the Treaty of Paris being at last signed, 
the Court and the city celebrated the restoration of peace. Then, 
disastrous inundations occurring in the south of France, the 
Emperor hastened thither for the purpose of alleviating the 



BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 97 

distress, which was great indeed.* But he was back in Paris for 
the state baptism of his son, which had been deferred until 
June 14. Pius IX. had despatched a special legate, Cardinal 
Patrizzi, to officiate at this pompous ceremony, which filled 
Notre Dame with as large and as splendid an assembly as that 
which had witnessed the imperial wedding. The procession 
started from the Tuileries about five o'clock in the afternoon. 
Eleven carriages, each drawn by six horses, conveyed the high 
officers of state, the Princes of the imperial family, and the Court 
guests, including Prince Oscar of Sweden, the Grand Duchess 
Stephanie of Baden (representing the royal godmother), and her 
daughter, the Duchess of Hamilton. Then, preceded by a 
squadron of Guides, came a great gilded state coach, which had 
served for the coronation of King Charles X. It was drawn by 
eight horses, each with a groom at its head, and in this pompous 
coach sat Madame Bruat, a still young and beautiful woman, 
carrying on her lap the infant Imperial Prince, around whom 
was cast a mantle of purple and ermine. Beside the coach rode 
two newly created Marshals of France, Canrobert on the right. 
Bosquet on the left. Behind came yet another splendid eight- 
horse state carriage, that of the imperial wedding, containing 
the Emperor and Empress, he attired, as usual, in a general's 
uniform, she in a cloud of light blue silk and gauze and lace, 
while from the crown upon her head the blazing Regent diamond 
scattered flakes of lambency. 

Over the Place de THotel de Ville and through a great 
triumphal arch erected there, then across the bridge to Notre 
Dame, went the procession. Under the vaulted roof of star- 
spangled azure, the interior of the ancient cathedral was all 
crimson and gold. In the centre of the transept appeared a 
large stage, on which were set the altar, the throne of the 
Emperor and Empress, that of the Legate, and the seats for the 
Canons of Notre Dame. Behind the Cardinal's throne were 
ranged the seventy-five Archbishops and Bishops of France in 
their gemmed mitres and full canonicals. [Where sit their 
successors now ?] Up the nave went the imperial coi^tege, the 
Empress, the Grand Duchess of Baden, and the Princesses, with 
long trains upheld by pages. When all was in readiness the 

* Nearly £40,000 were collected in Great Britain and sent to France. 

H 



98 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Cardinal Legate descended, from his throne to the altar and 
chanted the Venl Creator, accompanied by a full orchestra, while 
the Empress''s ladies glided softly to the credence tables in order 
to deposit on them the various articles provided for the 
baptismal rites. The Countess de Montebello carried the 
candle, the Baroness de Malaret the chrism cloth, the Marchioness 
de Latour-Maubourg the salt, the Countess de La Bedoyere 
the ewer, the Countess de Rayneval the basin, and Madame de 
Saulcy the napkin. Meantime, the little Prince was sitting up 
in Madame Bruafs arms, looking around him as fearlessly, in 
his infantile simplicity, as years afterwards, in his young man- 
hood, he looked on the Zulus who struck him down. 

The Veni Creator being ended, the Master of Ceremonies 
bowed to the altar, then to the Emperor and Empress, and 
approached the Cardinal, followed by Madame Bruat with her 
charge. Then the baptismal rites were performed, and the 
register was signed, first by the Legate, next by the Sovereigns, 
and afterwards by several of the Princes present. At last, 
making a slight obeisance, Madame Bruat approached 
Napoleon III. and placed the Imperial Prince in his arms. 
As his uncle had done at the time of the baptism of the King 
of Rome, the Emperor turned towards the brilliant assembly, 
proudly raising his son aloft. This was the formal presentation 
of the Heir to the Throne to the representatives of the 
French people. Meantime, an Assistant-Master of Cere- 
monies had stepped to the centre of the chair, and there 
he thrice raised the cry, " Vive le Prince Imperial ! — Vive le 
Prince Imperial ! — Vive le Prince Imperial ! " Thousands of 
voices took up that vivat, while the orchestra burst into music. 
On receiving the infant Prince again from the Emperor, Madame 
Bruat retired to a side chapel, which had been fitted as a with- 
drawing room, and shortly afterwards, escorted by Guides and 
Cuirassiers, she and her charge returned to the Tuileries, Avhile 
in the cathedral the Legate celebrated the Te Deum, and, when 
the Domine salvumfac Imperatorem had been chanted, bestowed 
with all solemnity the Pontifical benediction on France, her 
ruler, and her people. 

That evening at the Hotel de Ville there was a great banquet 
at which the Emperor and Empress were present, and Paris 



BIRTH OF THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 99 

once more blazed with illuminations. A few days later another 
solemn ceremony took place before the Court, assembled on this 
occasion in the chapel of the chateau of St. Cloud. This was 
the ceremony of the presentation, by Cardinal Patrizzi, of the 
Golden Rose which Pius IX. had sent to the Empress Eugenie, 
thereby singling her out as a pattern of piety and virtue. It 
is said that in the earlier centuries of Christianity filings of 
certain chains, alleged to have bound St. Peter's wrists, were 
blessed and then presented to distinguished upholders of the 
faith, and that later the rite was performed with gold and 
silver keys emblematical of the apostle's. Subsequently a 
golden rose appears to have taken the place of the keys. It 
has usually assumed the form of a miniature rosebush bearing 
flowers of wrought gold, and emerging from a gold pot or 
vase — the whole representing a value of about c£'400. On the 
fourth Sunday in Lent, at high mass at Sb. Peter's or in the 
Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, the topmost flower of the bush 
is anointed with balsam, sprinkled with musk, incensed, and 
then solemnly blessed by the Pope. It is afterwards sent to some 
sovereign, eminent personage or famous church, or if no worthy 
recipient be found at the time, the presentation is deferred 
until the following year. The vase of the rosebush sent to the 
Empress Eugenie was mounted on a stand of lapis lazuli, in 
which her arms and those of Pius IX. were incrusted in mosaic 
work. On the vase itself were bas-reliefs, representing the Birth 
of the Virgin and her Presentation at the Temple. That the 
consort of Napoleon III. was not unworthy of the gift may be 
readily granted ; but unfortunately the same Pontiff" also sent 
a Golden Rose to Isabella II. of Spain, a Queen whose life was, 
from the standpoint of common morality, an example to be 
shunned. But then Pius's predecessors had sent Golden Roses 
not only to the Empress Maria Theresa, but also to Henry VIII. 
of England, who, indeed, received no fewer than three of them — 
though that did not prevent the Reformation. 

Here let us pause. We have just had a glimpse of the 
Empire in its pride and splendour, in the heyday of success and 
triumph, which seemed full of fair promise for the future. We 
will now glance at what was lurking so menacingly beneath all 
the imperial power and pomp. 



CHAPTER V 

CONSriRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE — A CRIMINAL 

CENT- GARDE 

Attempts on the Emperor's Life — Association of the Paris Theatres with those 
Crimes — The Plots of the Hippodrome and the Op6ra Comique — The 
Kelch Affair and Griscelli — Pianori's attempt on Napoleon III, — Demon- 
stration in Paris — Why the Emperor never went to the Crimea — The 
Attempt of Bellemare the Lunatic — The Murder of the Archbishop of 
Paris — Mazzini's Letters, the Tibaldi Plot, and the Countess de Castig- 
lione — The Orsini Attempt — The Opera Programme — The Scene in 
the House and the Tragedy outside — The Culprits, their Trial and 
Punishment — A Reign of Terror in France and Trouble with England- 
Consternation of the French Court — The Special Tuileries Police— The 
Spy system in the Palace — The Cent-Gardes and the story of Prevost. 

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." Many were the 
dangers to which the life of Napoleon III. was exposed, parti- 
cularly during the earlier years of his rule. Six months after 
the Coup d'Etat, and before he had actually become Emperor, 
there was a plot to assassinate him in Paris, and a little 
later (September, 1852), during his journey through Southern 
France, an unfinished infernal machine was discovered at 
Marseilles — "providentially," said the Bonapartist journals of 
the time, "before his arrival in that city." Some people sus- 
pected the affair to be a bogus one, concocted by the police 
to stimulate public sympathy with the Prince President, but 
whatever may have been the facts in that particular instance, 
there can be no doubt of the genuineness of many subsequent 
plots or individual attempts on his life. The list of those 
which secured publicity is no mean one, but the Archives of 
the Prefecture of Police contain indications of many others, 
either suddenly abandoned by men who took to flight, or else 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 101 

nipped in the bud and dealt with in a secret arbitrary fashion 
by the authorities. The latter, indeed, often thought it best 
to hush up one or another affair for fear lest public confidence, 
already tried by what came to light, might be too severely 
shaken if the nation should learn the -whole truth about the 
persistent hatred of the Emperor'^s enemies. But, however 
careful the authorities might be, there was often a little leakage. 
Mysterious rumours circulated in whispers in one and another 
circle of Parisian society, tending to a vague haunting sense 
of insecurity, such as was suggested by an English versifier of 
the time : — 

" The years' had fled, 

The old King * was dead ; 
An Emperor governed the land in his stead — 
A gentleman famed for a very long head. 
Things went on much better : the people were fed ; 

The city had grown 

From mud unto stone ; 
The monarch seemed pretty well fixed on his throne. 
But still there was something, an undefined dread. 
As you feel when the sides of Mount Etna you tread ; 
And sorely the Emperor puzzled his head, 

Ever seeking in vain 

For some means to restrain 
The dim, hidden dangers that threatened his reign." 

It is by no means pleasant for a man to know that he 
cannot visit a public place of entertainment, spend an evening 
at a theatre, without incurring the risk of assassination, as 
was the case with Napoleon III. The present Paris Opera-house 
has not been associated with crime except in the pages of a 
well-known novel by Fortune du Boisgobey, but matters were 
different with its predecessors. The first Napoleon had scarcely 
become Consul when there was a plot — an ill-contrived and 
half-hearted one, it must be admitted — to stab him to death 
with daggers at the Opera-house of that time, which occupied 
the site of the present Place Louvois in the Hue de Richelieu. 
A little later, on Christmas Eve, 1800, as Napoleon was repairing 
to the Opera to attend a performance of Haydn's oratorio 
" Saul," an infernal machine was exploded in the Rue Nicaise, 
near the Tuileries ; and the future Emperor only escaped injury, 

* Louis Philippe. 



102 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

and perhaps death, owing to the semi-drunken condition of his 
coachman, who drove with reckless rapidity, and the miscalcula- 
tions of Robinet de St. Rejant by whom the machine was fired, 
he having expected that a guard of cavalry would precede the 
carriage. Twenty years afterwards the Opera-house was again 
associated with a crime, for at its very door Louvel stabbed 
Louis XVIII.'s nephew, the Duke de Berri, who died a few 
hours afterwards. Then, in 1835, Avhen Fieschi fired his in- 
fernal machine at Louis Philippe and his escort on the Boulevard 
du Temple, the Opera figured even in connection with that 
terrible affair, for it was there that on the previous evening the 
police were vainly warned of the contemplated attempt upon 
the King. 

Under Napoleon III. there was at first a change of venue on 
the parb of the would-be regicides, though they still selected 
places of entertainment for the accomplishment of their designs. 
In spite of the vigilance of the imperial police under Maupas 
and Pietri, some of the secret societies, which had sprung up 
under Louis Philippe and flourished under the Republic of '48, 
were still in existence or had been merged into other associations, 
better adapted to the new order of things. Among them was 
one called " The Consuls of the People," another " The Sanitary 
Cordon,""' and a third " The Two Hundred." The two first- 
named were composed of old Republicans, the last of Republican 
students of the Quartier Latin, In the spring of 1853, those 
three societies entered into a league and covenant for the purpose 
of ridding France of the new Emperor. The more ardent 
members desired to kill him, the others thought that the 
seizure of his person would suffice to bring about the fall of the 
Empire and the restoration of the Republic. The views of 
the former prevailed, and as it had been publicly announced 
that the Emperor would attend a performance at the Paris 
Hippodrome on June 7, the conspirators resolved to attack him 
on that occasion. But there was a traitor in their ranks who 
revealed everything to the police. Precautions were therefore 
adopted by the authorities, and the attempt became impossible. 
Moreover, two of the leaders, named Ruault and Lux, were 
arrested, while a printing press and a quantity of revolutionary 
papers were seized at the abode of a Moldavian refugee named 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 103 

Bratiano, one of whose brothers was a member of the " Central 
European Kevolutionary Committee " installed in London. 

Nevertheless, the other plotters did not relinquish their 
purpose. At the suggestion of one of their number, a Belgian 
named de Merens, they resolved to fall upon the Emperor as he 
quitted the Opera Comique on the night of July 6. Once 
again, however, they were betrayed to the police, and after the 
arrival of the Emperor and Empress at the theatre, a dozen of 
them were arrested among the crowd lingering outside. About 
this time, it may be mentioned, a vigorous pamphlet warfare 
was being carried on against the Empire, not only by such 
writers as Victor Hugo, Louis Blanc, Edgar Quinet, and Colonel 
Charras, but also by a London organization "La Commune 
Revolutionnaire," which was directed by three refugees — Felix 
Pyat, Boichot, and Caussidiere. Those men were beyond the 
reach of the Imperial Government, but several of their un- 
fortunate acolytes in France were apprehended and sentenced 
to varying terms of imprisonment. Four months later, when 
the plotters of the Hippodrome and the Opera Comique were 
brought to trial at the assizes, seven of them were sentenced to 
transportation for life, one to ten, three to seven, six to five, 
and one to three years'" imprisonment, while three others were 
banished from France for eight years. Six prisoners, acquitted 
on the main charges, were detained for having belonged to secret 
societies and tried with forty others for that offence. Of those 
thus indicted only four secured acquittal, the others being sent 
to prison for periods varying from five years to one. 

There was also another strange affair in that same year, 
1853. An ex-lieutenant of the French army named Frederic 
Kelch arrived in Paris from London and secured lodgings over 
a wine-shop at Montrouge. Two refugee Italians had quarters 
in the same house, and they and Kelch were suspected of designs 
on the Emperor's life. When a detachment of detective police 
descended on the place to arrest them, they offered a most 
desperate resistance, and were badly wounded before being 
secured. They were never brought to trial, but shipped by 
"administrative orders" to Cayenne. Some time afterwards, 
however, according to official data, Kelch was for some mysterious 
reason released, and made his way to China, where he became 



104> THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

one of the officer-instructors of the " Ever- Victorious Army."" 
However, an Itahan named Griscelh, calHng himself " Baron de 
Rimini,"" and for a time one of the secret pohce who watched 
over the safety of Napoleon IH., declares in his " Memoirs "'"' 
that he himself shot Kelch dead in the wine-shop, where he had 
gone to arrest him ; that he received in reward for his deed 
d£*400 from the Emperor, <£40 from M. de Maupas, and £60 
from ]\I. Pietri ; and that the Empress Eugenie defrayed the 
cost of his daughter"'s education at a convent at Issy. It is just 
possible that there may be some little truth in Griscelli"'s 
narrative, but that, instead of shooting Kelch dead, he only 
wounded him. 

Kelch's acolytes were Italian revolutionaries, and before long 
it was from men of that class and nationality that Napoleon III. 
stood in most need of protection.* About five o"'clock on the 
afternoon of April 28, 1855, the Emperor, attended by an 
aide-de-camp and an orderly officer (Edgar Ney and Lieut.-Col. 
Valabregue), was riding up the Champs Elysees in order to join 
the Empress, Avho was driving in the Bois de Boulogne, when a 
man suddenly sprang tovvards him from the footway near the 
corner of the Rue de Balzac. This man, who was armed with 
a double-barrelled pistol, fired at the Emperor twice, but with- 
out hitting him, whereupon he flung his weapon away and took 
another from his coat. He had been perceived, however, from 
the other side of the avenue by a vigilant plain-clothes police 
officer, a Corsican named Alessandri, who, drawing a dagger which 
he had about him, rushed forward to seize the man. There was a 
slight delay as a carriage passed at that moment, nearly running 
over Alessandri, who had to make a detour to avoid it. How- 
ever, before the Emperor"'s assailant could fire a third shot the 

* It was generally supposed that Napoleon was pursued by the hatred of 
Italian Carbonari, he having previously belonged, it was said, to their organiza- 
tion, and having failed to keep his oath. The Emperor laughed when he 
heard this tale, and remarked, in the presence of several members of his Court, 
that he had never been a Carbonaro or supported the Carbonaro cause ; all 
that had been written and said on the subject was, he declared, a profound 
mistake. He had been confused with his elder brother, and the error had 
largely arisen, said he, from the circumstance that his own Christian names 
and his brother's were identical, though they did not follow the same order. 
This statement, it will be perceived, refutes the assertions made by Count 
Orsi in his " Eecollections." 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 103 

detective was upon him. They rolled over on the ground 
together, and in the frantic struggle which ensued the man was 
twice stabbed by Alessandri. Nevertheless he fought on, and 
was not definitely secured until the arrival of other policemen. 
The Emperor, meantime, had remained quite calm, and went 
his way to join the Empress, who burst into tears upon hearing 
of what had happened. 

Reports of the attempt sped like wildfire through Paris, and 
when the Emperor and Empress repaired to the Opera Comique 
in the evening, they were enthusiastically acclaimed by dense 
crowds of people, as is acknowledged even by Viel Castel, that 
great sneerer at things imperial. " I must say," he writes in 
his "Diary," "that if I were to read what I have just seen I 
should not believe it, I should charge the newspapers with flat- 
tery and courtisannerie. But the shouts of ' Vive TEmpereur ! ' 
thundered forth like discharges of artillery, continuing farther 
and farther away. The emotion was general ; I saw not one 
person but twenty, thirty people weeping. . . . Inside the 
theatre the Empress looked pale and anxious, in spite of her 
efforts to appear calm. The Emperor also was thoughtful. On 
the return to the Tuileries they were greeted with the same 
ovation as before, and the houses they passed were resplendent 
with illuminations." 

That is the usual outcome of such attempts. They stir even 
an ordinarily callous population to sympathy with the intended 
victim. 

The Emperor"'s assailant was named Giovanni Pianori. Born 
at Euenza in the Papal States, in 1827, a shoemaker by pro- 
fession, and the father of several children, he had served under 
Garibaldi, at Rome, during the revolutionary period. The 
French police tried to show that, under another name, he had 
been sentenced to twelve years at the galleys for political assassi- 
nation in Sicily, whence he had escaped to Genoa; but that 
conviction was never clearly established. It would seem that, 
after the French expedition to Rome in 1849, Pianori took 
refuge in Piedmont, and, under the name of Liverani, made 
his way to Marseilles, Lyons, and Paris, thence passing over to 
England, where he may well have met various political refugees. 
Mazzini and others were mentioned at his trial, but there was 



106 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

no proof that they had instigated his crime, though it was 
certainly very strange that, while the prisoner''s circumstances 
were plainly precarious, his wants were supplied in some 
mysterious way, that he wore attire far superior to his real 
position, and that he had returned from London to Paris 
only five days before making his attempt. But this, he 
asserted, had been suddenly conceived and as suddenly carried 
out. He had been ruined, he said, by the French occupation 
of the Papal States, and had bethought himself of all the misery 
prevailing there since the Pope and the priests had regained 
power. He had also pictured the distressful situation of his wife 
and children, whom he had been obliged to leave behind him ; 
and on remembering that it was Napoleon III. who had robbed 
Italy of Rome, and thereby brought about all his misfortunes, 
he had lost his head and resolved to shoot the Emperor. He 
was sentenced to death for his attempt, but there is reason to 
believe that he was offered his life in exchange for revelations, 
which he did not make, however, adhering to his original state- 
ment that he had no accomplices. The Emperor being deemed 
" the father of his country," Pianori suffered sentence as a 
parricide, that is, going to the guillotine bare-footed in a long 
white shirt, and with a black hooded veil hanging from his head. 
" Vive ritalie ! Vive la Republique ! "" he cried, as he ascended 
the scaffold steps, displa3ang until the last moment the utmost 
fortitude. 

Pianori's attempt had a result of some importance, for had 
it not occurred the Emperor would have carried out his design 
of proceeding to the Crimea, in spite of the views which had 
been expressed at the War Council of V\^indsor.* In fact, at 
the time of the attempt the preparations for the imperial 
departure were being quietly hastened. But the sovereign's 
entourage became alarmed both for his safety at the seat of war 
and for the regime itself in the event of any outbreak in his 
absence. Pressure was therefore brouglit to bear on him by the 
Empress and the Ministers, as well as by his old confederates of 
the Coup d'Etat, and he reluctantly yielded to it. Officially, 
of course, other reasons were assigned for the abandonment of 
the imperial plans. 

* See ante, p. 82. Meury's Memoirs confirm the statement made above. 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 107 

Some four months elapsed, Queen Victoria paid her visit to 
Paris, and the Affaire Pianori was almost forgotten, when on 
the evening of September 8, 1855 — the day of the victorious 
attack on the INIalakoff — as one of the imperial carriages drew 
up outside the Theatre des Italiens in the Place Ventadour, a 
young man drew a pistol from his pocket, placed the muzzle 
close to the window of the vehicle, fired, and broke the glass. 
Immediately afterwards he raised a second pistol, but before he 
could fire it a sergent-de-ville struck his arm down, and the 
charge entered the ground. It so happened that the carriage 
did not contain the Emperor, but three of the Empress's ladies, 
and that the would-be regicide had been deceived by a sudden 
shout of " Vive TEmpereur ! " which an impetuous bystander, an 
old First-Empire pensioner, had raised on recognizing the im- 
perial liveries. The ladies, at whom the pistol was discharged, 
escaped unhurt, but they were quite unnerved by the occurrence ; 
while Madame Ristori, the famous t7^agedienne, who was giving 
her last performance of the season that evening (and who, as it 
happened, was to be associated, in a similar way, with the 
subsequent and more famous attempt of Orsini and his con- 
federates), fainted on hearing that the Emperor"'s life had been 
threatened, and was scarcely able to appear in her role as 
Phaedra when, shortly afterwards. Napoleon III. arrived. The 
acclamations with which he was received were so pronounced 
that he inquired the cause, and on hearing of the outrage 
remarked : " Let nothing of this be communicated to the 
Empress, Stop all telegrams about it." * 

The would-be assassin was a young fellow of two and 
twenty named Bellemare, a native of Rouen, and, curiously 
enough, a bootmaker by calling, like Pianori. Of a low 
physical standard, slight, pale, and scrofulous, he had been 
sentenced, when he was barely sixteen, to two years' imprison- 
ment for robbing his employer, most of his punishment being- 
remitted, however, by the Emperor (then Prince President) 
on account of his youth. Nevertheless, according to his own 
statement, Bellemare had taken no small part in the resistance 
to the Coup d'Etat, when he had figured, he asserted, among 
the defenders of the Rue de Rambuteau barricade, and composed 

* She was then enceinte. 



108 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

and posted a placard bearing the title of "Reasons why Louis 
Napoleon Bonaparte is Condemned to Death."" Briefly, he 
gloried in having done so many things — most of which, in all 
probability, he had never done at all — that he was arrested and 
sent to Belle-Ile-en-Mer as a political offender. Released in 
January, 1855, he then returned to Paris, where, finding no 
work as a shoemaker, he entered the employment of a huissier 
or process-server. Evidence at his trial showed that his 
behaviour at Belle-Ile had been very strange indeed, and that 
he had quite a maniacal craving for notoriety. Finally he was 
adjudged to be insane, and was sent as such to an asylum. 

In the following year, 1856, the regicides allowed the 
Emperor breathing time, that is to say, although plotting still 
went on there was no open attempt at assassination. In 
January, 1857, Paris was horrified by an abominable crime, 
the murder of Archbishop Sibour — a broad-minded and popular 
prelate — in the church of St. Etienne-du-Mont. The culprit 
was an interdicted priest named Verger, whom the Archbishop 
had frequently befriended, and who at one moment had been 
attached as cross-bearer to the Tuileries chapel, under the 
acting-Almoner, Mgr. Tirmache. Verger had no grounds for 
personal animosity against Archbishop Sibour (for it was the 
Bishop of Meaux, his diocesan, who had " interdicted " 
him), but his mind had been affected by repeated brooding 
over the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin,* 
which he deemed contraiy to true Christianity. Thus it was 
with a cry of "No goddesses! Down with the goddesses!" 
that he plunged his knife into the unfortunate prelate, while 
the latter was advancing, processionally, up the nave of the 
church. There can be little doubt that Verger was insane, 
nevertheless he was guillotined. 

During the ensuing summer the " Black Cabinet " of the 
French Postal Service seized a letter which was found to 
contain three notes written by Mazzini and intended for 
certain of his friends named Massarenti, Campanella, and 

* It was not a new dogma, having been known to the Church for many 
centuries, and confirmed by Paul V., Gregory XV., and Alexander VII, ; but 
in December, 1854, Pius IX. had issued a bull again declaring it to be an 
article of faith, and pronouncing all who might speak against it or doubt it to 
be guilty of heresy. 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 109 

Tibaldi. The French police promptly concluded that these 
communications referred to a plot against the Emperor's life. 
Massarenti and Campanella were in London, out of the reach 
of the imperial authorities, but Tibaldi, an optician by pro- 
fession, was in Paris, where he was immediately arrested, as 
were also two men named Bartolotti and Grilli, who were 
mentioned in one of Mazzini's notes, and who, like Tibaldi, 
had lately arrived from London. Further, in a room occupied 
by a female acquaintance of Tibaldi's the police found a valise 
containing fourteen double-barrelled pocket-pistols, five daggers, 
a horse-pistol, and one of the then newly invented American 
revolvers. When the three men were brought to trial, Tibaldi, 
who denied all guilt, explained his connection with the others 
by asserting that they had been introduced to him by an 
acquaintance as compatriots in distress, for whom he had there- 
fore tried to find employment. Indeed, he had secured a 
situation for Grilli at a hatter''s in the Rue du Temple. But 
Grilli and Bartolotti told a different story. They asserted that 
they had each received .£40 from Mazzini as a retaining fee to 
assassinate the Emperor, and that Tibaldi had undertaken to 
provide, them with weapons, and select the best opportunity 
and spot for the perpetration of the crime. Not content with 
these disclosures, the prosecution made great efforts to connect 
the French Republican exile, Ledru-Rollin, with the plot. 
Grilli and Bartolotti asserted that they had seen a man whom 
they believed to be Ledru-Rollin at Mazzini's when they called 
there, and a witness named Gerault also made a statement 
respecting some money which Ledru-Rollin had handed to him 
in 1853 for an individual named Beaumont, a connection of 
the Lieutenant Kelch, whom Griscelli claimed to have killed. 
But, all considered, there was no evidence against Ledru-Rollin, 
who, after the proceedings, protested vigorously against the 
charges levelled at him, and offered to stand his trial in 
England if the Imperial Government would prosecute him 
there : a suggestion which the Parisian authorities did not 
entertain. 

With respect to Mazzini, the case was different. His letters 
could not be denied, and they were significant enough. It has 
been claimed, however, that in anv case he did not seek out 



110 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Grilli and Bartolotti, but that they sought him, playing the 
part of agents provocateurs, and leading him, Tibaldi, and others 
into a trap. That might, in a sense, slightly lessen the culpa- 
bility of Mazzini, but the fact remains that he entertained the 
proposals made to him, and, while freely acknowledging that he 
was a great Italian patriot, it is, we feel, impossible to hold 
him guiltless in this affair. Tibaldi, condemned to transporta- 
tion for life, was promptly shipped to Cayenne, where he was 
still in durance at the fall of the Empire in 1870 ; while Grilli 
and Bartolotti, who throughout the trial protested that poverty 
alone had induced them to take Mazzini's money, and that they 
had never intended to carry out their mission, were sentenced to 
fifteen years"" solitary confinement. Some writers have asserted, 
however, that, like Lieutenant Kelch, they remained but a 
short time in prison, that an order suddenly came for their 
release, and that they disappeared. 

That would certainly tend to confirm the view that they 
had merely acted as agents provocateurs. But there is another 
point to be considered. Not the least curious feature of the 
affair was the selection of the occasion when the Emperor was 
to be attacked. This was to have been either on his arrival at 
or his departure from a certain house, which, throughout the 
trial, was invariably referred to as " No. 53 " — no street being 
mentioned. It so happened, however, that No. 53, Hue 
Montaigne, was at that time the residence of a young and 
beautiful Italian, daughter of the Marquis Oldoini of Florence, 
and wife of Count Francesco Verasis di Castiglione of Piedmont, 
King Victor EmmanueFs First Equerry, whom she had married 
when only fifteen years of age. The Countess — whose Christian 
name, Virginia, was in marked contrast with her real nature — 
had been for a short time one of Victor Emmanuel's many 
mistresses, and had taken up her residence in Paris with the 
express object of becoming that of the Emperor. Whether 
she acted, as some have asserted, at the instigation of Cavour, 
and for the purpose of bringing pressure to bear on Napo- 
leon III. in connection with the deliverance of Northern Italy 
from the Austrians, has never been established ; and, in fact, 
it may well be doubted, for although the Countess was ex- 
tremely beautiful, wearing on her face an expression of juvenile 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 111 

innocence which completely concealed her depravity, she displayed 
no mental gifts. Such wit or shrewdness as she possessed was 
apparently only that of a courtesan. She posed, she exhibited 
herself, but she never evinced any conversational power in 
public, and it seems unlikely that so able, so shrewd a man as 
Cavour would have selected as an emissary a Avoman devoid of 
rudimentary ability. On the other hand, the Countess was 
remarkably extravagant. liike a true Florentine she had a 
passion, a craving, for jewellery, for splendour of every kind — 
on which, indeed, in comparatively few years she squandered 
her husband's handsome fortune. And we incline to the belief 
that, far from being inspired by any high political motives in 
her designs on Napoleon III., she was merely actuated by base 
and sordid desires. That she became for a short time the 
Emperor's mistress is well known, and that he visited her in 
the Rue Montaigne is equally certain. The affair was notorious ; 
and, as the Countess had several Italians round her, it is not 
surprising that Bartolotti and Grilli should have been sufficiently 
informed as to the possibility of falling upon the Emperor on 
the occasion of one of his visits to the Rue Montaigne. 

It is this design, admitted at the trial (though neither the 
street nor the Countess was actually mentioned), that prevents 
us from regarding the affair as a mere bogus conspiracy. If 
it had been simply " put up " by the police, there would have 
been no compromising mention of any mysterious "No. 53 " 
— such as induced Viel Castel, writing at the time, to 
remark that everybody knew what house was meant, and that 
the secret was merely " Polichinelle's." In fact, if, as some 
have alleged, Grilli and Bartolotti were mere police spies, they 
would never have made statements in court in any degree 
likely to cast reflection on the morality of the Emperor. That 
they were regarded as mere instruments in the affair, and re- 
leased and sent out of France in return for their denunciations 
of Mazzini and Ledru-Rollin, seems the best explanation of their 
subsequent disappearance. 

Some five or six months elapsed, and at last, in January, 
1858, came the most famous of all the attempts on the life of 
Napoleon HI. Both he and the Empress Eugenie were partial 
to theatrical performances, and there were, of course, " imperial 



112 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

boxes" (sometimes two) at every Paris theatre of any conse- 
quence. When the sovereigns visited the Comedie Franpaise 
they entered by way of the Pavilion Montpensier of the Palais 
Royal, and passed through some of Prince Jerome's salons (later 
his son's) to a doorway which gave admittance to the theatre on 
a level with their box. At the Opera-house, which was then 
in the Rue Le Peletier, there was a special entrance near the 
public one, with private stairs conducting to a salon, beyond 
which you found the chief imperial box — a large avant-scene 
on the left of the spectators seated in the body of the house. 
On the right of that principal box there was another which was 
usually occupied by members of the Imperial Household, 
while on the left there was a little stage-box to which the 
Empress often Avithdrew during the entr'actes, for it amused 
her to watch the performers and privileged subscribers con- 
versing in the slips, the stage-managers giving their orders, 
and the scene-shifters preparing everything for the next acb. 
On the arrival of the Emperor and Empress at the Opera-house 
they were always received by the First Chamberlain (Baciocchi, 
who took care to arrive in advance) and by the director, who 
awaited them at the foot of the private staircase, carrying 
a lighted candelabrum which he held aloft as, stepping back- 
ward, he preceded their Majesties up the stairs. Behind the 
gilded armchairs which the Emperor and Empress occupied in 
the chief box, were other seats for the First Chamberlain, the 
acting Chamberlain, the Aide-de-camp, and the Lady of the 
Palace on duty. These attendants remained standing during 
the first few minutes, after which it was usually suggested to 
them that they might sit down. The sovereigns themselves also 
remained standing while they acknowledged the bows or accla- 
mations of the spectators ; but it was not the custom, as in 
England, for the orchestra to honour their arrival by playing the 
national air of the time — " Partant pour la Syrie "" — though on 
the occasion of the State performance during Queen Victoria's 
visit in 1855 she made her entry to the strains of the British 
national anthem. 

On January 14, 1858, the "bill" of the Opera-house was 
of an unusual character. A notable baritone, Massol, a faithful 
servant of the " Academic de J\Iusique " for thirty years, Avas 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILEllIES POLICE 113 

retiring from the stage, and a performance had been organized 
for his benefit. The most distinguished members of the musical 
profession had promised to rally round him ; the chief exponents 
of the choregraphic art, the Ferraris, Rosati, and Richard, were 
also prepared to contribute to the entertainment ; and in par- 
ticular it had been arranged that Adelaide Ristori should 
figure in the performance, which the Emperor and Empress had 
promised to attend. For several days all tickets had been at a 
premium, and Avhen the appointed evening arrived the audi- 
torium was crowded with the leading members of Parisian 
society, ambassadors and marshals, senators and bankers, 
exquisites of the Jockey Club, litth-ateurs, ladies of rank and 
notorieties of the demi-monde. Briefly, there was a splendid 
"house," and an enjoyable evening was anticipated. 

Yet the programme was of a strange description, and 
looking back one wonders by what remarkable chance such 
a succession of ominous "items'" was ever chosen. First on 
the bill was the third act of " Guillaume Tell," a conspiracy ; 
next the third act of " Massaniello," a revolution ; then (with 
La Ristori) the execution scene of " Maria Stuarda," a political 
murder; and finally the masquerade or assassination act of 
" Gustavus III." How Count Baciocchi, the First Chamberlain 
and Superintendent of the Imperial Theatres, allowed such a 
bill to be adopted, knowing that the Emperor and Empress 
were to attend, has always been a mystery. It was a fateful 
circumstance, for we know that the very character of the per- 
formance, announced some time in advance, was a powerful 
factor in the choice of this occasion for yet another attempt on 
the life of Napoleon III. 

The house, as we have said, was crowded, and on the 
arrival of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who preceded 
the Emperor and Empress, Baciocchi gave orders for the per- 
formance to begin. All at once, amidst the finale to the 
third act of "Guillaume Tell" — the great scene when Arnold 
von Melchthal swears to avenge his country — a violent detona- 
tion was heard, and everybody at first imagined that some 
explosion of gas had taken place in the slips. But again and 
again there came a loud report, and the whole audience quivered 
with alarm. Amid the confused hubbub which ensued, a sharp 



114 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

imperative voice suddenly rang out : " On demande des medecins 
— a rinstant ! " — " Doctors are wanted, at once ! " It was a 
Commissary of Police who called, and such members of the 
medical profession that happened to be present immediately 
hurried out. Everybody now realized that something dreadful 
had happened. The most terrible suspicion flashed on one and 
all. Excited men rushed from their seats to ascertain the facts. 
AVomen sobbed, some of them even fainted. Anxious ejacu- 
lations arose on every side. The Emperor — was he killed ? The 
Empress — what of her ? There was yet another moment of 
suspense. Then all who were not overcome by their feelings 
sprang excitedly from their seats, turned towards the imperial 
box, and burst into acclamations. Before them stood the 
Emperor and Empress acknowledging their plaudits. "The 
Man of Mystery," as Napoleon III. Avas then so often styled, 
looked as composed as ever — neither paler nor redder than was 
his wont. Not a quiv^er either of any facial muscle or of hand, 
not a sparkle in his side-glancing eyes, was to be detected. 
As somebody said at the time, if there were any man in the 
world Avho could bear being blown up with gunpowder without 
changing countenance, it was Napoleon III. The Empress, in 
spite of her efforts, was much less composed ; she looked as 
pale as death, and had quite a scared expression on her beautiful 
countenance. Her cheeks had been slightly grazed, and there 
were drops of blood on her white silk bodice. Some time elapsed 
before the prolonged plaudits allowed the sovereigns to sit down, 
but at last they did so, and the performance proceeded in spite 
of the frightful tragedy which had marked their arrival at the 
theatre. 

This is what had happened. The imperial carriage had 
stopped outside the house, and the Emperor and Empress were 
about to alight when four small hand-bombs were thrown in 
succession at the equipage. Three of them exploded with 
terrible effect. One of the carriage horses was killed on the 
spot, the other injured. General Roguet, who accompanied 
the sovereigns, was wounded in the neck, the coachman in the 
head, and the three footmen also received slight injuries. At 
the same time a splinter of one of the bombs pierced the 
Emperor's hat, and another tore the collar of his cloak. The 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 115 

slight injury to the Empress's cheek was due to the broken 
glass of one of the carriage windows. But all that was of little 
moment. The worst was that eight people were mortally 
wounded, including two of the Lancers of the imperial escort. 
Serious injuries were inflicted on seven other Lancers, five more 
being hurt less severely. The roll of those who were seriously 
wounded included also seventeen civilians, eleven men of the 
Paris Municipal Guard, and thirty-two police officers of various 
categories. But altogether no fewer than a hundred and fifty 
people were struck and bruised. Moreover, twenty horses of 
the escort were injured, seven of them fatally. 

The plot is too well known to require detailed recital here. 
We need only glance at the main points. One of the culprits, 
Pierri, recognized as a man who had previously been expelled 
from France, and who was already suspected of regicidal designs, 
was arrested on the spot a few minutes before the attempt 
occurred, in such wise that he did not actually take part in it. 
But his intentions were manifest, for a bomb, a dagger, and a 
pistol were found on him. However, the chief culprit, Felix 
Orsini, had been able to act. Injured himself by one of the 
explosions, he repaired to a chemist's shop for treatment, and 
after his return to his lodgings, some inquiries which his servant 
Gomez made at the chemist's, led to the arrest of both. 
Moreover, a search at the hotel where Pierri was residing 
resulted in the apprehension of a fourth culprit, one Charles 
de Rudio, who went under the name of Da Silva. If the chief 
police authorities had acted on the warnings of a detective 
officer named Claude, who had been on the track of the band 
for some days previously, the attempt would never have taken 
place. However, Claude's acumen and foresight were sub- 
sequently rewarded. He became chief of the service of which 
he had long been a zealous and capable officer. He was, 
perhaps, the greatest detective that France ever produced, and 
he served as the prototype of the famous " Monsieur Lecoq " 
— the " hero " of Gaboriau's novels. 

Although, as we have mentioned, the performance at the 
Opera proceeded in spite of the painful tragedy which had 
occurred outside, the spectators generally paid little attention 
to what took place on the stage. The one point of interest 



il(j THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

was the imperial box, whither functionaries of one and another 
category betook themselves in succession, either to tender their 
congratulations or to report on the condition of the wounded, 
or the progress made by the police with respect to the arrest 
of the culprits. Prince Napoleon, moreover, hastened to the 
theatre from the Palais Koyal, where he had been entertaining 
a number of friends with, curiously enough, a performance of 
Alfred de Vigny's " proverb," Quitte pour la Peur. It was 
midnight when the Emperor and Empress rose to retire. They 
were then again acclaimed by the audience, and on their way 
back to the Tuileries they found most of the houses illuminated 
and the foot pavements thronged with people, whose applause 
the Empress acknowledged by impulsively waving her hand- 
kerchief from the carriage window. At the Tuileries all was 
excitement, the Salle des Marechaux was thronged with Princes, 
ambassadors, and high dignitaries, who had repaired thither 
to offer their felicitations and denounce the outrage. On the 
morrow the Emperor and Empress drove through Paris in an 
open carriage without escort, and again met with a great 
reception. 

The men who had been an*ested were in due course brought 
to trial. Their leader Orsini, born at Meldola in the Papal 
States, was about thirty-nine 3'ears old, tall, handsome, with a 
curly black beard and piercing eyes. His father had served the 
first Napoleon, and had subsequently figured in that same 
insurrection in the llomagna, in which the elder brother of 
Napoleon IH. had participated.* In time Orsini the younger 
likewise became an insurgent and conspirator, bent on ridding 
Northern Italy of the Austrians, and Rome of priestly rule. At 
the Roman Revolution of '48 he became a member of the 
Republican Convention, and was sent by the Triumvirate to 
Ancona to put down some serious troubles there, on which 
occasion he roundly denounced political assassination, declaring 
that it was not a proper course to pursue even for the pur- 
pose of securing liberty. But the French expedition to Rome 
modified his views. Like Pianori, he conceived a deadly hatred 
for Napoleon III. Falling into the hands of the Austrians in 
1853, Orsini was sent to the citadel of Mantua, but he escaped 

* See ante, p. 7. 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 117 

and made his way to England, where he endeavoured to enlist 
public sympathy in the cause of Italian independence. At last, 
feeling that the French Emperor was the great obstacle to the 
realization of his desires, Orsini decided to act against him. 
His original intention was to do so alone, unaided ; but he came 
into contact with his compatriot Pierri, a native of Lucca, who 
had been living at Birmingham as a professor of languages for 
some years. Pierri was then about fifty years old, and his 
career had been a chequered one. Ho had served in turn in 
the French Foreign Legion, in the Piedmontese Bersaglieri, and 
in the Roman Republican forces, in which last he held the rank 
of colonel. Thus he was as much a partisan of Italian inde- 
pendence as Orsini, and of a far more excitable, violent nature. 
Gomez, Orsini's servant, who lii<ewise figured in the plot, was 
a Neapolitan partisan of "the cause;" while Rudio, who was 
only five and twenty years of age, belonged to Belluno in the 
States of Venice, and had served as a youth under Manin 
during the siege of la cltta imica. The quartette symbolized, 
then, four of the chief divisions of Italy: Venetia, Naples, 
Tuscany, and the Roman States. 

Orsini Avas the first to arrive in Paris for the purpose of 
assassinating the Emperor, being followed by the others about 
three weeks later. The imperial authorities, according to their 
usual tactics, tried to implicate various French Republican 
exiles in the affair, but except as regards Dr. Bernard, of whom 
we shall speak hereafter, there was not a scrap of evidence to 
support that view. Moreover, the only link by which even 
IMazzini could be connected with the affair was a manifesto of 
his on the subject of Italian independence, which had been 
issued in the Italia del Popolo of Genoa, five days prior to 
the attempt. As for an Englishman named AUsop, who was 
indicted (by default) at the same time as the others, Orsini, 
while admitting that this person had lent him his passport and 
helped him to make the bombs, declared that he had not 
known the real purpose for which they were intended, but had 
been led to believe that they were to be used in some rising 
in Italy.* 

* AUsop, whose \Yliereab9uts in England were discovered, found it prudent 
to go to America, 



118 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Orsini's behaviour at the trial was frank and dignified ; he 
stated his reasons for the crime, and acknowledged the essential 
facts without casting undue responsibility on his fellow-prisoners. 
He asserted that he had had another confederate unknown to 
them, an Italian, who had actually thrown one of the bombs, 
but he refused to give this individuaPs name. Pierri, for his 
part, denied everything, even the most patent facts ; while 
Gomez and Rudio, fearing for their heads, confessed their guilt 
with an air of craven repentance. The result was a foregone 
conclusion. The eloquence of Jules Eavre, who appeared for 
Orsini, could be of no avail in such a case. Thus Orsini, Pierri, 
and Rudio were condemned to death, and Gomez to hard 
labour for life — to which latter penalty the sentence on Rudio 
was ultimately commuted. The Emperor at first wished to 
spare the lives of all four prisoners, holding, and perhaps 
rightly, that a broad act of clemency would deter other Italians 
from similar enterprises ; but the Ministers and the Court would 
not hear of it. So many people had been killed or injured, they 
said, that leniency was out of the question. There must be no 
weakness, but unflinching severity, and that view prevailed, as 
France soon learnt to its cost when it awoke one morning and 
found a Minister of Public Safety in office, and hundreds of 
absolutely innocent persons arrested and consigned to prison. 
Under the unscrupulous Espinasse * a perfect Reign of Terror 
set in and continued until the Emperor, alarmed at seeing his 
Minister going so far that the national discontent threatened 
the very regime^ rebuked him in such a manner as to compel 
him to resign. 

While Orsini was awaiting his trial he had written the 
Emperor a remarkable letter, urging him to restore the inde- 
pendence of Italy. In a second missive, penned from his 
condemned cell, and published after his execution, he acknow- 
ledged that bomb-throwing was a fatal error, offered his blood 
in atonement for that of his victims, and called on his fellow- 
countrymen to reject henceforth all methods of assassination 
and win their " freedom and independence by unity of effort 
and sacrifice, and the practice of true virtue." That appeal was 
printed in large type in King Victor Emmanuel's official organ, 
* See ante, pp. 11 an(i 47, 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 119 

the Turin Gazette, where its appearance created no slight 
sensation. 

But trouble had arisen with England. The crime having 
been planned there, the British Government was roundly 
denounced for harbouring assassins. Many colonels of the 
French army, whose addresses congratulating the Emperor on 
his escape were published in the Mo7iiteur, availed themselves 
of the opportunity to upbraid and threaten the British nation. 
Thereupon British public opinion rose against the French 
Imperialists. The Government of the time was swept away 
for introducing a Crimes Bill intended to placate Napoleon III. 
Dr. Bernard, an ex-ship's surgeon, who had introduced Rudio to 
Pierri, who had been intimate with Orsini, and who was known 
to have been in the possession of bombs, not exactly identical, 
however, with those used in Paris, was acquitted by an English 
jury of all complicity in the attempt against the Emperor; 
and although Queen Victoria and Napoleon afterwards had a 
cordial meeting at Cherbourg, the entente of the two nations, 
so conspicuous at the time of the Queen's Paris visit, received 
a blow from which it only partially recovered when a few 
years later Cobden negotiated the Treaty of Commerce. 

Orsini and Pierri, arrayed in the garb of "parricides,'" 
suffered death on March 13, 1858. Few civilians actually 
witnessed the execution, for 5000 troops were massed on the 
Place de la Roquette. On reaching the foot of the scaffold 
both men kissed the crucifix. Then Pierri ascended the steps, 
leaning on a priest, and singing the old chant of the first 
French Revolution : " To die for one's country is the most 
splendid fate, the one most deserving of envy." At the 
moment when his black veil was raised he cried to the distant 
spectators : " Long live Italy ! Long live the Republic ! " 
Two minutes later his head fell into the basket. Then came 
Orsini's turn. Of a much less excitable nature than Pierri, 
he remained quite composed, merely exclaiming, " Vive la 
France ! "" when the executioner's assistants seized him. 

As we have already mentioned, the immediate result of the 
Orsini affair for France was the prompt establishment of a 
reign of terror under the provisions of an abominable enact- 
ment, called "Law of Public Safety," which was drafted 



120 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

expressly for the occasion, and which swept away almost every 
vestige of individual liberty and trial by jury. The adoption 
of this law was a profound mistake, for it revived all the 
memories of the Coup d'Etat, and deprived Napoleon IH. of 
much of the sympathy which had gone to him as a result of 
Orsini's deed. Yet only a handful of deputies voted against 
the measure when it was discussed by the Corps Legislatif, and 
only one senator dared to take a similar course — this, curiously 
enough, being General, later Marshal, MacMahon. However, 
the members of the Emperor's entourage had lost their heads ; 
it was they who, in their consternation, had induced him to 
make General Espinasse chief Minister, and of course the 
Law of Public Safety had their approval.* 

Those were dark days at the Tuileries. Everybody became 
suspicious of everybody else. Any unusual incident aroused 
apprehension. Jealous, in particular, was the watch kept over 
the little Imperial Prince. He was strongly guarded on all 
sides, both in the palace and whenever he drove out. On 
those occasions he was invariably brought to the Empress, who, 
after kissing him, made a sign of the cross on his forehead. 
Until she learnt that he had returned safe and sound to the 
Tuileries, she remained in a state of anxiety. 

Strict watch was kept over the great army of servants on 
duty at the Palace. There were so many of them, that however 
carefully they might have been selected, it was possible that 
some black sheep or other had crept, here and there, into the 
fold. Thus the special Police Service of the Tuileries was 
ever on the qui vive. For some years it was controlled by 
M. Hyrvoix, but he, though a very zealous and able official, 

* There were some later conspiracies against the Emperor's life. About 
the end. of December, 1863, four Italians, nam.ed Greco, Trabucco, Imperatore, 
and Maspoli — alias Scaglioni — ^were arrested in Paris, and found possessed of 
bombs, revolvers, and daggers. The tv70 first-named were transported for life 
to Cayenne, each of the others being sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. 
Again, in 1870, under Emile Ollivier's administration, another plot — this time 
a French one — was discovered, but it would seem to have been in part the 
work of agents provocateurs. The chief culprit was a young man named 
Beaury, a deserter from the army, and an acquaintance of Gustave Mourens, 
the well-known revolutionary ; but quite a number of prisoners were tried at 
Blois for being more or less connected with the conspiracy, and were sentenced 
to various terms of imprisonment. 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 121 

contrived to offend the Empress in one or another way, and 
thereupon received an appointment in the provinces. His 
successor was Lagrange, who remained in office till the fall of 
the Empire. The duties of the Palace Police or " Police du 
Chateau," as it was usually called, were multifarious. It was 
requisite that some of its members should watch over the 
personal safety of the Emperor, the Empress, the Imperial 
Prince, foreign royalties, and other distinguished visitors. It 
was necessary also to keep a watch on all the functionaries in 
office — chamberlains, aides-de-camp, orderlies, equerries, and 
so forth. ]\Iany a time was an eye or an ear applied to a key- 
hole, many a time was a mental note made of some incautious 
remark, which was communicated to the " Chief," and by him 
to Mocquard, the confidential secretary at the head of the 
Emperor's Private Cabinet. Among the servants, at least one 
of each department really belonged to the Palace Police, and 
reported on the behaviour of his colleagues. And it was not 
merely what went on at the Tuileries itself that was subjected 
to this constant espionage. Officials, ladies of the court, 
servants also, were, on the slightest suspicion, watched wherever 
they might be. 

In the kitchens the surveillance was very strict, in order 
that there might be no tampering with the food. Thoroughly 
reliable men waited on the Emperor and Empress ; no dish, no 
sauce intended for either of them, was for a single moment lost 
sight of. There were night watchers also. Trusty men of the 
Palace Police prowled hither and hither, and Cent-Gardes 
went their rounds. When these Cent-Gardes were on duty 
they showed themselves, on the whole, very vigilant and 
devoted men, but they had a failing, as we shall see. Tall, 
well-built, and often possessed of very handsome features, they 
looked truly superb in their gala uniforms, both when they 
escorted the Emperor on horseback, and when they stood 
rigid, at attention, with drawn swords, on the stairs or in 
the corridors of the Tuileries, when some ball or banquet was 
given. 

Long white horse-tails hung from their polished steel 
helmets, which had tri-colour side plumes and brass plates 
bearing the imperial crown and initial. Their tunics were sky 



122 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

blue, with scarlet, gold-braided collars. Brass nuts bespangled 
their bright steel cuirasses, Avhich weighed from twelve to 
thirteen pounds apiece, and in which you could see yourself 
as clearly as in a mirror. Their epaulettes and aiguillettes 
were golden, their gauntleted gloves of Avhite buff leather, 
their tight breeches of white buckskin. To their brilliantly 
polished boots, rising above the knee in front and to the joint 
behind, spurs a la clievallere were fixed. The undress uniforms 
which they wore on their walks abroad when off duty, were 
also very smart, and, all considered, it is not surprising that 
they should have been much admired by the Parisiennes of 
their time, and have frequently become extremely vain of the 
bonnes fortunes they met with. 

The police reports of the period often contained passages re- 
flecting on the morality of those superb bodyguards. It was no 
mere question of cooks and nursemaids as might be supposed. 
Giddy women of position Avere fascinated by them, and extra- 
ordinary incidents occurred. On evenings when the men were 
free they would frequently be found supping in the private 
rooms of fashionable restaurants, en tete-d-tete with such ladies. 
The police kept a particular watch on a restaurant in the 
Rue du Bac, which by reason of its proximity to the barracks 
in the Rue de Bellechasse, was freely patronized by these 
stalwart Musketeers of the Empire * and their inamoratas. 
Certain rooms there were reserved for them, and nobody was 
allowed to enter who could not give the passwords, Tresor et 
mystere. 

Another house they visited was the Vieux Moulin Rouge 
(no connection with the Moulin Rouge of present times), in 
the Avenue d'Antin, where ladies of fashion and the stage kept 
appointments with them. To make matters worse some of the 
men openly boasted of their conquests, and scandal ensued. 
In spite of various severe disciplinary measures the evil was 
never entirely eradicated, though it became less marked Avhen, 
owing to the difficulty of obtaining sufficient picked men of 
the requisite height, it was decided to include privates as well 

* They were, as a matter of fact, armed with Treuille de Beaulieu carbines, 
or mousguetons, to which their long, straight-bladed sabres of the Cuirassier 
pattern could be adapted as bayonets. 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 123 

as non-commissioned officers in the corps. The latter thereupon 
lost a good deal of its prestige in the eyes of giddy elegantes, 
who were then not unwilling to yield the pas to their rivals of 
the kitchen and the nursery. 

It was to the Emperor personally that M. Hyrvoix, who — 
with the title of Commissary of the Imperial Residences, was, as 
we have said, at the head of the Palace Police — reported all 
scandalous incidents that came to his knowledge. He more 
than once had to direct the sovereign's attention to the 
behaviour of his bodyguards. On one such occasion he in- 
formed him of a strange disappearance which had occurred in 
Paris. A woman of Mexican origin, supposed to be connected 
with a New York newspaper, had vanished from her flat, and 
the police had been unable to trace her. He, Hyrvoix, had 
previously come in contact with her under curious circumstances, 
and this is the tale he related. 

At one of the balls given at the Tuileries a woman, whom 
the palace police agents, dressed as ushers and footmen, were 
unable to identify, had been observed in the company of an 
attache of one of the foreign embassies. At a certain moment, 
moreover, she had been seen making memoranda in a note- 
book, and the circumstances having seemed suspicious, both she 
and her cavalier had been followed on their departure from the 
ball. The attache, who was approached on the matter, made a 
clean breast of it, the more willingly as he was throwing up his 
post and leaving France. He admitted, then, that the woman 
was not his wife but his mistress ; that she wrote on Parisian 
society and fashions for an American journal ; and that, being 
unable to obtain the entree to the Tuileries by any direct means, 
she had prevailed on him to take her to the ball in order that 
she might see and describe it. Briefly, she was one of the very 
first of a now long line of lady-journalists, and made her 
appearance in Paris about the very time when Adrien Marx, 
with his " Indiscretions Parisiennes," was writing the first news- 
paper " interviews " published in Europe. 

So far as the police were able to verify the attache's story it 
appeared satisfactory, and the only further action they took was 
to keep a discreet watch on the Avoman's movements. They 
ended by finding, after the departure of her diplomat lover from 



124 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Paris, that she had transferred her affections to one of the Cent- 
Gardes, whom she had met one day when he was off duty. 
Appointments had followed between the pair ; it was known 
that they had met on various occasions at a restaurant in the 
Avenue de Neuilly, and that they had supped together in Paris 
on the night when the woman was presumed to have dis- 
appeared. All inquiries respecting her in the city having failed, 
a letter had been addressed to her newspaper, Avhose editor had 
answered that he had heard nothing of her for some time past, 
and felt rather anxious about her. On the other hand, apart 
from the fact of the intrigue, there had been nothing suspicious 
in the behaviour of her friend the Cent-Garde, who, on being 
interrogated, had admitted the liaison but expressed his utter 
inability to account for the lady's disappearance. In the state 
of the case it hardly seemed fair to prefer a serious charge 
against the guard. A premature public scandal would damage 
the prestige of the entire corps, for the opposition journals 
would certainly pounce on the affair and exaggerate it. All 
considered, then, it was deemed best to take no immediate 
action, but simply to watch and wait. 

The Cent-Garde in question was one of the most striking- 
looking men of the corps — a veritable Porthos in build and 
strength. His name was Victor Prevost. Born in December, 
1836, he had been apprenticed to a Paris wire-worker, but being 
afflicted with the terrible rapacious appetite known as bulimy, 
he had left that master and found employment at a butcher''^, 
where he Avas able to satisfy his unnatural craving for food. It 
was not lost on him, for he developed great muscular power at 
an early age, and became an expert slaughterer. Joining the 
army in 1855, he soon passed into the Cuirassiers of the Guard, 
Avith which regiment he took part in the Italian campaign of 
1859. In 1862, his term of service having expired, he re- 
enlisted, and four years later he was incorporated in the 
Cent-Gardes. 

Prevost seems to have performed his duties efficiently, and 
by reason of his great physical powers he was better able than 
some of his comrades to stand the strain of that rigid immo- 
bility, on which Colonel Verly, the commander of the corps, 
invariably insisted when his men were stationed inside the 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 125 

Tuileries, guarding either stairs or doorways. Visitors to the 
palace often wondered how it was that the Cent-Gardes con- 
trived to remain at their posts as motionless as statues during 
all the long hours of some great ball. In reality, however, they 
did nothinjy of the kind. No human beinc; could have accom- 
plished such a feat ; and in point of fact, each Cent-Garde was 
quietly, unobtrusively, relieved after one hour's duty.* Prevost 
was among the few who boasted that they could bear the strain 
for twice that time, and a propos of his imperturbability when 
he was on duty there is a tale which may be repeated here. 

During the Imperial Prince's childhood boxes of sweetmeats 
constantly arrived at the Tuileries addressed to him, but the 
Empress gave orders that he was never to eat these sweets 
without her express permission. One day, when he was eleven 
or twelve years old, a box of dragees being offered to him by 
somebody of the court, he resolved to ask his mother if he might 
accept it. On leaving the room, however, he espied the Cent- 
Garde on duty at the door, and a comical idea suddenly entered 
his boyish head. The soldier stood so upright, so motionless, 
that one might have thought him a statue. Could he be made 
to move ? wondered the little Prince. At all events, he would 
try. Opening, therefore, his box of dragees, he dropped a first 
sweet into one of the Cent-Garde's big boots, but without effect. 
The man did not stir. A second dragee followed with no better 
result, nor did the man move even when the impatient little 
Prince ended by pouring down his boots every sweet that was 
left in the box. That feat accomplished, young Louis, as his 
parents called him, ran off to tell his mother of it, and the story 
being repeated caused much amusement in the palace. Now, the 
Cent-Garde in question was Prevost. 

Pie quitted the corps in 1869. M. Hyrvoix was then no 
longer at the head of the Palace Police, and the affair of the 
missing Mexican woman had been shelved. Prevost passed into 
the ordinary Paris police force, as one of the sergents-de-ville, 
who after the fall of the Empire were re-christened gardiens de 
la paix ; and with them he continued serving until 1879, being 

* There were a few occasions when a man, having been overlooked, fainted 
at his post. The weight of helmet and breastplates, and the temperature of 
the ballrooms, should be borne in mind. 



126 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

still and ever a superb-looking animal, afflicted with the same 
voracious appetite as in the past, and, though he was now over 
forty, still making conquest after conquest among women. He 
distinguished himself on one occasion by stopping a runaway 
horse at the risk of his life, but he was often reprimanded 
for neglect of duty, such as absenting himself from his beat, 
either to satisfy his hunger or to meet^ one of his female 
acquaintances. 

He seems to have had also a peculiar passion for jewellery, 
which he acquired by hook or crook, and afterwards turned into 
money. It was this which led to his downfall. One day in 
September, 1879, a jeweller named Lenoble called by arrange- 
ment at his lodgings with a large selection of jewellery, worth 
about d£?240. Provost chose a gold chain, for which he was to 
pay by monthly instalments, but while Lenoble was writing out 
the necessary promissory notes Prevost struck him three times 
on the head with a heavy coupling-iron, and to make sure of 
killing him cut his throat. Being off duty that day, the 
murderer spent his time in chopping his victim into pieces, 
which he carried off after sunset in a laundress's basket, and 
dropped into the street drains and round about the fortifications 
of Paris. It was a dark evening, and he vs^as wearing a blouse, 
nevertheless, a female acquaintance recognized him, and on seeing 
him throw away what seemed to be a piece of meat she picked 
it up. On showing it to a butcher, however, she learnt that it 
was not meat but human flesh. 

Prevost was arrested. Abundant proofs of his crime, in- 
cluding his victim's head, clothes and jewellery, were found at 
his lodgings. It was ascertained also that the unfortunate 
Lenoble (a married man with children) had been cut into no 
fewer than seventy-seven pieces. Prevost ended by making a 
full confession of his horrid deed, and he even admitted a 
previous crime, the murder of a woman named Adele Blondin, 
in February, 1876. Some of her relatives had then reported 
her disappearance, but although her liaison with Prevost was 
known, nothing came of the investigations made at the time, 
though the scoundrel had pawned some of his victim's jewellery, 
sold the remainder to colleagues, and even found dealers to buy 
her clothes and other articles stolen from her lodgings. He 



CONSPIRACIES— THE TUILERIES POLICE 127 

had disposed of her remains in the same manner as he had tried 
to dispose of the jeweller's, and after his confession he pointed 
out to the authorities a spot on the fortifications where the 
unfortunate woman's head was found buried. However, he 
never confessed the murder of the American lady-journalist 
■whom he had known when a Cent-Garde, though there is little 
doubt that he was guilty of that crime also. It was generally 
believed that in committing the murders of which he was convicted 
he had been actuated by a desire to procure money for the purpose 
of satisfying his inordinate voracity. He was sent to the guillo- 
tine (Deibler acting as executioner) in January, 1880. Such 
was the end of one of the most imposing of those Cent-Gardes 
whom the Parisiennes had admired so intensely in the days of 
the Empire. But let us add that he was quite an exception. No 
other man of the corps, whatever his failings, was ever convicted 
of crime. 

Nor except as regards pilfering * were there any serious 
offences among the palace servants if one may judge by the 
Adjutant-general's reports. One day the Empress having asked 
for a carafe frappee, her usher at once told a footman to fetch 
one. The footman, however, neglected to do so, and the 
Empress remained waiting for her iced water, whereupon the 
usher scolded the footman, one of whose colleagues took 
the delinquent's part. There were high words — a somewhat 
noisy and scandalous scene — and in the end the affair came 
before General Rolin, by whom both offenders were punished 
with extra duty. At another time we find a servant sent a short 
distance with a letter. He leaves the Tuileries at 11.45 a.m. 
and returns at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Worst of all he is 
drunk, and as a natural consequence his dismissal follows. But 
such incidents occur at times in most large households, how'ever 
carefully the servants may have been chosen. 

There were, of course, police inquiries respecting every 
domestic who applied for a post in the imperial household. 
That precaution was taken even when Napoleon III. was merely 
President. A police report, a copy of which lies before us, states 

* If any inmate of the palace were indisposed, and tea d la francaise were 
served him in his bedroom, not a drop of rum or a scrap of sugar ever went 
back to the kitchens. 



128 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

that a man named Rouyer, who has circumvented Count Clary 
with the object of obtaining a situation as usher or footman at 
the Elysee, formerly belonged to the household of Charles X., 
and is a dangerous Vendean, whose only purpose is to put some 
poisonous substance in the Prince President's food or drink. 
Whether that were true or not, Rouyer did not obtain the 
situation for which he applied. A propos of his affair it may 
be stated that in the earlier years of the Empire, the palace 
service, the imperial stables and the hunt included many men 
who had served Charles X. or Louis Philippe. We shall have 
occasion to mention some of them hereafter ; for the present it 
will suffice to say that they seem to have served Napoleon III. 
quite as well as they had previously served the house of 
Bourbon or Orleans. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE EMPEEOR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 

The Emperor's Rooms — Their Decorations and Appointments— The Eagles of 
the Imperial Gulard — The Council Cliamber and the Newspaper Room — 
The Imperial Sanctum— The Room where New Paris was planned — The 
Dressing-room and Bedroom — The Emperor's Valets — His Morning 
Work — Secret Audiences and State Councils — The Lunches with the 
Empress — Afternoon Work — Work-day Dinners — Plain and Substantial 
Fare — The Wines and Liqueurs drunk at Court — Coffee in the 
Drawing-room — The Emperor's Evening Work — The Multiplicity of 
his Occupations — The Chief Officials of his Private Cabinet : Mocquard, 
Conti, Pi6tri, and Th^lin — Some of the Private Cabinet's Work — Petitions 
and Grants — Management of Estates — High Diplomacy — The Cabinet 
Noir and Secret Police Reports — Current Accounts — A New Nobility — 
Novels and Newspaper Articles — A Tale of the Imperial Sanctum— The 
Alleged Theft of £8000 from the Emperor's Table— Did Marshal St. 
Arnaud kill General Cornemuse ? 

A NUMBER of changes were made in the internal arran elements 
of the Tuileries during the eighteen years of the Second Empire. 
The rooms which the Emperor used for personal purposes 
during the greater part of the reign were not in all respects 
those in which he first installed himself. It would be of little 
interest to enumerate all the alterations. Let us content our- 
selves with glancing at Tappartement de TEmpereur such as it 
became and remained until the downfall of the regime. 

All the rooms were on the ground floor and extended, 
roughly ' speaking, from the Pavilion de THorloge to the 
Pavilion de Flore on the garden side of the palace. The first 
apartment of the suite was a small Ushers"* Room, which you 
entered near the staircase conducting to the State Rooms on the 
first floor. All the doors, let us add, were double ones, and of 
solid mahogany as was all the woodwork throughout the suite. 

K 



130 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

From the Ushers' Room, which contained nothing of note, you 
reached the Chamberlains' Salon, hung in grey silk and decorated 
Avith Prudhon's portrait of the Empress Josephine. Here also 
Avas a mahogany flag-stand in which were assembled the eagles 
and colours of the Imperial Guard. The Emperor being 
Colonel-in-chief of the regiments of the Guard, those colours 
were deposited in his keeping. Whenever any particular 
regiment was transferred from Paris to such places as Fontaine- 
bleau or Compiegne, a troop of Cent-Gardes conveyed its eagle 
to the palace there ; and on the occasion of any great review in 
the Bois de Boulogne or on the Champ de Mars, the Cent- 
Gardes again removed the eagles from the Tuileries and 
ceremoniously handed them over to the respective regiments. 
The latter, with similar ceremony, returned them to the Cent- 
Gardes at the close of the day. At one of the last Salons of 
the Empire there was a huge painting of considerable merit by 
Albert Girard (a forgotten Grand Prix de Rome) depicting the 
Cent-Gardes returning with the eagles to the Tuileries, by way 
of the Champs Elysees. This picture was purchased by the 
Emperor and sent to the Cent-Gardes'" barracks, but being 
removed on the fall of the Empire, it was subsequently given 
by the Empress to M. Franceschini Pietri. 

Let us now return to the Emperor''s apartments. From the 
Chamberlains' Salon you entered the Council Room, which was 
lighted by a window and a glass door, the latter opening on to 
a flight of steps which descended to the reserved garden. The 
two principal paintings in this Council Room were Winter- 
halter's large official portrait of the Empress Eugenie in her 
state robes and coronet, and a portrait of the Emperor's elder 
brother when a young man. The walls of the room were hung 
with red silk, and the furniture included a couple of large book- 
cases, full of works on jurisprudence, and, of course, a great 
oblong table at which the Ministers sat under the Emperor's 
presidency. 

The Newspaper Room was the next of the suite, and here, 
against the red silk hangings, was seen a large portrait of the 
Empress dressed in red velvet, and with the Imperial Prince on 
her knees. Quantities of newspapers, French and foreign, includ- 
ing copies of those which were confiscated by the police in order 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 131 

that the ordinary public might not read them, were disposed in 
an orderly fashion both on some large consoles and beside the 
piles of reports and documents set out upon a central table ; 
■while at one end of the room was a book-case containing, 
curiously enough, a collection of Latin poetry and prose. 
Near a door Avhich you opened to enter the Emperor's private 
cabinet was a stand on which the chamberlains deposited their 
lists of applications for public or private audiences. 

The imperial sanctum, a very spacious apartment with two 
windows, had been contrived, like the newspaper room, in a 
space previously occupied by some open arcades. In the centre 
stood the Emperor's large writing-table, on which you might 
perceive a curious gold snuff-box, previously the property of 
Napoleon I., and a delightful miniature portrait of the Empress 
Eugenie. The Emperor sat at this table with his back to the 
fire, and with the Avindows on his right hand. Facing him, on 
the other side of the table, were chairs for his Chef-de-cabinet 
and his private secretary when they worked with him. On the 
right was another chair for any Minister or similar personage 
under like circumstances. Then, on either side of the fireplace 
stood a roomy armchair upholstered in leather. The Emperor 
occasionally rested in the one facing the windows, and anybody 
who might be with him at the time was invited to take the 
other. The clock and candelabra on the mantelpiece belonged 
to the Louis XVI. period. On the right of the fireplace was an 
interesting collection of miniatures of Napoleon I. and other 
members of the Bonaparte family, as w^ell as a fine marble 
medallion of the young Imperial Prince. 

Facing the fireplace, and between two cabinets full of valu- 
able bibelots and old Sevres, was a doorway conducting to the 
rooms occupied by the Chef-de-cabinet and the private secretary, 
while at the far end of the apartment you saw a long low 
mahogany nest of drawers, full of papers and surmounted by a 
large plan of Paris. Above another stack of drawers on the 
left of the chimney-piece hung Ingres' study in oils of Julius 
Caesar. 

Among what maybe called the annexes of the imperial suite 
of offices was a large Salon de Service, containing writing-tables 
for chamberlains, aides-de-camp, and other officials who might 



13^ THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

be on duty. Here in a great show-case you saw Mene's wonder^ 
ful series of statuettes of men and officers of the French army. 
Every different corps, every variety of uniform and accoutrement, 
whether of horse, foot, or cavahy, was represented in this collec- 
tion with the greatest exactness, and many of the little figures 
were masterpieces of modelling. Most unfortunately they were 
destroyed in the conflagration of 1871. 

There were also special rooms where officers and function- 
aries lunched, and yet another — near the Emperor's sanctum — 
where stood a number of large tables covered with plans of 
Paris. In that room Napoleon III. spent many months, if not 
years, of his reign. There, with Haussmann and Alphand and 
Viollet-le-Duc, he enthusiastically studied and prepared all 
those improvements, all those wonderful transformations, of his 
capital, which were the wonder of the age. Let no mistake be 
made. Every man is entitled to his due, and the new Paris of 
the Second Empire was as much the creation of Napoleon III. as 
of Haussmann, Alphand, or another. There were financial 
blunders undoubtedly, financial scandals, too, of no little 
magnitude, and men such as Morny reaped golden gains ; but 
the Emperor never pocketed a sou, nor did the much-abused 
Haussmann — an ever-needy man, who died poor. And though 
some Parisians of those days may have sneered and said that 
the fine new streets were simply laid out so straight and broad, 
in order that they might be conveniently swept by artillery in 
the event of a popular rising, the generations which have added, 
of later years, to all the city''s improvements, have never had 
cause to regret that so much had been done already before their 
time. Nevertheless, how mean and despicable has been the 
action of those in authority, who, imagining that they could 
blot out whole pages of the history of Paris, have effaced 
from building after building every inscription, every crowned N, 
recalling the period of its erection ! In the patriotic wrath 
which followed Sedan, such action may have been excusable ; 
but again and again since those days have workmen been seen 
obliterating some emblem or lettering, previously overlooked, 
and of a nature to recall the imperial j-egime. Often have men 
of sense marvelled at the zeal of those petty, narrow-minded 
iconoclasts. But passons. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 133 

Near the Emperor's cabinet were his bedroom, dressing- 
room, and bath-room. On the left of the last named was a 
private staircase conducting to the Empress's apartments on the 
first floor. In the dressing-room hung some views of Arenen- 
berg — so closely associated with Queen Hortense's last years and 
the Emperor's early ones — as well as several engravings of Arab 
sheiks after paintings acquired by Napoleon I. in Egypt. Near 
this dressing-room were sundry closets and such places, where 
the Emperor's Avardrobe was kept, one of them containing a 
large assortment of overcoats, from the lightest of summer ones 
to a heavy sealskin " Inverness," which Napoleon — a very chilly 
mortal by the way — wore in severe weather. From the dressing- 
room the bedroom was entered. Its chief decorations were two 
Italian mosaics on either side of the fireplace, one being a copy 
of a Virgin by Raffaelle, and the other a copy of a St. John the 
Baptist by Guido Reni : the last-named a gift from Pius IX. 
Portraits of the Emperor's father and mother hung on either 
side of the bedstead, which was of the empire style. Against 
the wall facing the fireplace stood a large cabinet of carved oak, 
while between the windows was a smaller one containing trinkets 
and family souvenirs, and surmounted by some racks of side- 
arms of various kinds. 

The Emperor had five valets-de-cliambre. The head one 
was Leon Cuxac, who had been his valet long before he ascended 
the throne. Under Cuxac, who received o£'240 a year and many 
valuable perquisites, were Gouttelard and Miiller, who attended 
on alternate days. Their salary was ^£'100 a year with an 
allowance for quarters. The other men were supplementaiy 
valets, whoso, services were only requisitioned on special occa- 
sions. There was also a valet-coiff'eur in receipt of £19^0 a year, 
whose duties were confined to cutting the Emperor's hair from 
time to time, for Napoleon III., unlike the present German 
Kaiser, always shaved and pointed his moustache himself.* 
Further, there was a fire and candle-man attached to the private 
apartments, and four froiteurs, who, besides waxing and polish- 
ing the marquetry floors, dusted and cleaned the rooms. 

* It was originally a medium hroivn, as shown in the better paintings from 
the life ; but in later years it was, for a time, darkenecl by a dye to conceal 
greyuess. 



134 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

The day-valet usually entered the Emperor^s bedroom to 
draw up the blinds and open the shutters at half-past seven 
o'clock. The Emperor then speedily rose and repaired to his 
dressing-room, where he found Cuxac awaiting him. He took 
a bath and dressed, and while he was drinking a cup of tea, 
Charles Thelin, the Keeper of the Privy Purse and Wardrobe 
Superintendent (in which capacity he checked all tailors\ 
hosiers\ hatters"*, and bootmakers'* accounts), came in — displaying 
his huge moustache a la Victor Emmanuel — to take orders 
respecting a variety of private donations and charitable con- 
tributions. Dr. Conneau arrived at the same time, and usually 
profited by the opportunity to call attention to cases of distress 
which needed relief. Conneau and Thelin, those old associates 
of the days of Napoleon's imprisonment at Ham, were always the 
best intermediaries for folk who sought pecuniary assistance of 
the Emperor. The cases which Dr. Conneau brought forward 
were included in the general expenses of the Imperial House- 
hold ; while as those which Thelin dealt with concerned only the 
}'rivy Purse, the accounts respecting them were rendered privately 
to the Emperor himself. 

It may be mentioned that Napoleon III. usually partook of 
only two meals a day — dejeuner at noon and dinner in the 
evening. After his matutinal cup of tea and his consultation 
with Conneau and Thelin, he went straight to his private 
cabinet or work-room, unless, indeed, there were some occasion 
for him to go out. On ordinary work-days at the Tuileries he 
wore a dark blue frockcoat and waistcoat, with fancy trousers, 
and for a good many years he adhered to the trouser-straps 
which had been fashionable before he came to the throne. In 
Paris, whenever he went out in civilian attire, he wore the 
orthodox silk hat and — almost invariably — Suede gloves of the 
shade known as pearl-grey. He generally took Avith him his 
favourite walking-stick, which was of rhinoceros hide with a 
gold handle fiq-urini^ an ease's head. 

On entering his work-room, whither he was followed by the 
Chef-de-cabinet, the first functionary whom he usually received 
was that important personage the Prefect of Police. Later 
came one or another Minister with whom the Emperor worked 
during a part of the morning. Those who attended most 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 135 

frequently were the Ministers of State and of Foreign Affairs. 
Other private audiences were also occasionally given in the 
morning, though the usual time was from 1 to S p.m. Apart, 
however, from the audiences respecting which the usual routine 
of the Chamberlain's service was observed, there were others of 
a particularly private, virtually secret character, such as were 
accorded to certain politicians and journalists. Those visitors, 
then, did not pass through the Chamberlains'' Salon, but were 
ushered direct into the Emperor\s sanctum by Felix Werwoort, 
his trusty first usher. Werwoort was a confidential servant of 
high importance, whose zeal was rewarded by many handsome 
gifts from the Emperor. 

Twice a week when the Court was at the Tuileries a 
Ministerial Council, beginning at 9.30 a.m. and usually lasting 
a couple of hours, Avas held in the Council Room under the 
Emperor's presidency. There were also occasional meetings of 
the Council of State to examine some proposed law of im- 
portance, and these, as the room where the Ministers assembled 
was not large enough for a numerous gathering, were held in 
the Salle des Travees, which was then fitted up with all the 
appurtenances of a council chamber. The Councillors arrived 
in dress coats and white cravats, and the Emperor wore the star 
of the Legion of Honour, and was attended by the aide-de- 
camp and chamberlain on duty. 

On ordinary work-days the Emperor quitted his cabinet 
about noon and received in the Council Room the various Great 
Officers of the Household who came to present their reports. 
He then climbed the private stairs to the apartments of the 
Empress, with whom he went to dejeuner. The appointed hour 
was noon, but owing to the great amount of work to which the 
Emperor had to attend, he was invariably more or less late. 
During the earlier years the sovereigns lunched en tete-a-tete ; 
a little later a cover was laid for the Imperial Prince ; but after 
a time, when the boy's studies required that he should take his 
meals at regular hours, he lunched alone with his tutor. The 
dejeuner of the Emperor and Empress was a very simple affair 
— eggs, steaks or chops, and fried potatoes, boiled fowl, calves' 
liver or beef or sheep's kidneys, (and, of course, fish every Friday) 
• — such were the dishes set before them. There were also early 



136 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

vegetables and fruit from the kitchen gardens of the Palace of 
Versailles. Preillon, the Empress's maitre d'hote!, presided over 
the service, and the Emperor and Empress's valets-de-charnhre 
and a couple of footmen were in attendance. 

The meal being finished the sovereigns retired to the 
Empress's study, where the Emperor remained for a time 
chatting and smoking cigarettes ; but this respite from work 
was very brief, as there was always somebody waiting to be 
received by him. He Avas thus compelled to return to his own 
room. The household officials were also in readiness to resume 
their duties, having lunched together either in the Stucco Hall 
or in a dining-room near the palace chapel — the meals being of 
three and four courses, with red and white vin ordinaire, two finer 
wines, coffee, and cognac. For an hour or two, after giving one 
and another private audience,* the Emperor rode or drove out, or 
walked in the reserved garden. Then, returning to his private 
room, he continued working until dinner time. Shortly after 
seven o'clock, realizing that he was already late, he hurried into 
his dressing-room, made a hasty toilet, and wearing a white 
tie and a black dress-coat with the star of the Legion of Honour, 
betook himself once more to the Empress's rooms.f 

He then accompanied her to the drawing-room, either the 
Salon des Tapisseries or the Salon d'Apollon, where the officers 
and ladies on duty were waiting. On ordinary occasions the ladies 
were in a decided minority, as they then consisted solely of the 
two " dames du palais " in attendance on the Empress, whereas 
the men included the adjutant- general of the palace, the 
aide-de-camp of the week, the chief officer of the detachment of 
the Imperial Guard stationed at the Tuileries, the colonel of 
the Cent-Gardes, the chamberlain, the equerry, and the 
orderlies on duty, as well as Dr. Conneau, and occasionally the 
equeiTy to the Empress. Count Baciocchi was also present 
whenever the sovereigns intended to spend the evening at a 
theatre ; Count Arese, a particular friend of the Emperor's, was 

* The public audiences were usually given on Sunday, after Mass, and the 
Emperor was then generally detained for a long time by the crowd of military 
men and civil functionaries who presented themselves. 

t At certain of&cial dinners he wore a blue dress-coat, a white waistcoat, 
black silk breeches and stockings, and at the more important banquets he 
appeared in military uniform. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 137 

also a frequent guest, and a cover was laid for General Dufour 
of the Swiss army — Napoleon's former military tutor — whenever 
he happened to be in Paris. 

The Prefect of the Palace having informed the Emperor 
that dinner was served, the whole company passed in procession 
into the dining-room. On ordinary occasions the Emperor and 
Empress sat side by side, but at official dinners they faced one 
another. From sixteen to twenty servants were usually present. 
The cuisine was not particularly rechercMe. The Emperor 
personally preferred plain and substantial fare — salmon, stewed 
beef a la jardiniere, roast capon, and mutton en ragout were 
among his favourite dishes — and moreover Benoit, the head 
cook, was a man of somewhat old-fashioned ideas. The 
Empress's tastes differed, and now and again when she had 
dined with Prince Napoleon or Princess Mathilde, both of whom 
kept a very good table, she would ask why such dishes as she 
had then partaken of could not be served at the Tuileries. 
M. Benoit would thereupon make an effort to distinguish 
himself, but he soon relapsed into his usual heavy, monotonous 
style. At the same time it must be said that there was a gi'eat 
abundance of edibles, and that the finest fish, game, vegetables, 
and fruit were provided. The wines mostly drunk at the 
Tuileries were vin ordinaire (Mont-Rose), then Cos d'Estournel, 
Chateaux Le'oville, Margaux and Lafitte, Sauternes, Schloss 
Johannisberg, and some very fine old tawny Port. Burgundy 
was seldom seen. When Champagne was served, either at the 
dinners or the ball suppers, it was invariably Veuve Clicquot. 
The Emperor had a particular friendship for M. Werle, the 
senior partner in that famous house, who was both Mayor of 
Rheims and a deputy. As for the liqueurs which figured at the 
Tuileries, these, in addition to brandy of the best quality, 
included rum, kirsch, and anisette, the Empress occasionally 
sipping a few drops of the latter after dinner. There was also, 
in strictly limited quantities, some absinthe for the officers who 
could not forego that deadly aperitif. 

On ordinary days there was little conversation at table. 
Those who were present exchanged a few remarks in under- 
tones, never raising their voices unless it were to reply to the 
Emperor and Empress when addressed by them. Neither then 



138 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

nor in the drawing-room afterwards, was any allusion made 
either to politics or to any current Parisian scandal. At times, 
when the Emperor was going to the theatre he would speak of 
the stage generally, and of previous works by the author whose 
new play he was about to see performed. On other evenings he 
would turn the conversation on to some fire or street accident 
of which he had read in an evening newspaper. 

In the earlier years of the reign dinner was served in the 
Galerie de Diane, or rather in a part of it separated from the 
rest by the movable partition of which we previously spoke.* 
Subsequently the Louis XIV. Salon, a small but elegantly 
appointed apartment, was used. Directly the meal was over a 
procession was again formed and the whole company returned 
to the drawing-room. The maitre dliotel on duty then handed 
to the Prefect of the Palace a richly worked silver-gilt salver 
called porte-a-boire, having beneath it a central foot or handle 
by which it w^as carried. A cup and saucer and a sugar-basin 
were set upon the salver w-ith which the Prefect then cere- 
moniously approached the Emperor, Avho allowed the maitre 
cThotel to pour a few drops of black coffee into the cup. Coffee 
was next offered to the Empress in the same manner, but she 
never accepted it, and the maitre d'hote! proceeded to serve the 
ladies and gentlemen who were present. 

Occasionally the Emperor, seating himself at a little table, 
would take up a pack of cards and try his hand at " patience "" ; 
but before long he again went downstairs to his private room to 
peruse the despatches and reports which had arrived for him. 
The evening ones were almost always the more important. 
Till ten o'clock he remained closeted with his Chef- de-cabinet 
or his private secretary. When official business did not claim 
his attention he turned to his "Life of Julius Csesar." On 
some evenings when he had invited certain members of the 
Institute of France to dinner, he communicated passages of 
that work to them. Next, about ten o''clock, he returned to 
the drawing-room where he had left the Empress and the 
officials, and drank a cup of tea. Then back to his private 
room he went once more, and at the time when he was busy 
with the "Life of Caesar"" he remained working at it in privacy 

* See ante, p. 22. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 139 

until past midnight. At last, however, he threw down his 
pen and betook himself to his dressing-room where a valet was 
waiting. His toilette de ruiit was soon completed, and he went 
to bed after a sixteen or seventeen hours'' day. In the earlier 
years he slept soundly, but his malady subsequently compelled 
him io use narcotics. 

Of course his life was varied. There were often times when 
he had to entertain foreign royalties, open the Legislature, 
inaugurate some building, inspect some work in which he was 
interested, review his army, put in an appearance at an 
exhibition or a race-course, undertake a journey, and so forth. 
On those occasions, however, the ordinary work still had to be 
done, and it became necessary for the Emperor to expedite 
everything at the double-quick, never dawdling for an instant 
if he wished to regain lost time. From 1851 to 1861 the 
work which fell on Napoleon HI. was far heavier than that 
which is the lot of the constitutional sovereign, for during 
that period his was essentially a personal rule, and he deemed it 
necessary to look into every matter of any importance. Quite 
apart, moreover, from ordinary affairs of State the w^ork accom- 
plished by the Private Cabinet — most of which came under the 
Emperor''s eyes — was very great indeed. Let us try to give 
some account of it. But first we will glance at the principal 
officials of the cabinet — M. Mocquard, its chief, and his suc- 
cessor, M. Conti, M. Franceschini Pietri, the private secretary, 
and M. Thelin, the keeper of the Privy Purse. 

Jean Francois Constant Mocquard, born at Bordeaux in 
1798, was descended on his father's side from a family of San 
Domingo planters and merchants, and on his mother''s from the 
scandal-loving Bussy-Rabutin, the author of " L'Histoire amou- 
reuse des Gaules." Thouo;h educated for the law, he began 
life in the diplomatic service of the First Empire, being sent to 
Germany as a secretary of legation ; but on the downfall of 
Napoleon he withdrew into private life. In 1817, when he was 
but six and twenty he was presented to Queen Hortense at 
Arenenberg, and his comparative youth, his flow of spirits and 
his ready wit were well calculated to produce an impression on 
a woman of an inflammable nature, one too, who might still be 
classed, to use Balzac's expression, as a femme de trente cms. 



140 THE COURT OF THE TUILEPJES 

Only surmises, however, no proofs, have ever been tendered 
with respect to the relations of Mocquard and the ex-Queen of 
Holland. He returned to France, and practising as an advocate, 
he came to the front by pleading for Bonapartist and Re- 
publican defendants in the great political conspiracy trials of 
the Restoration, such as those of the Black Pin secret society, 
and the Sergeants of La Rochelle. But a thi-oat complaint and 
the loss of his voice constrained him to retire from the bar, 
and he next tried his fortune as a subprefect in the Pyrenees, 
under Louis Philippe's government. Difficulties arising with 
his superiors he threw up that post in or about 1839, and being 
a Bonapartist at heart, his thoughts turned to Queen Hortense's 
son, Louis Napoleon, with whom apparently he had more than 
once corresponded. He visited the Prince in London, and after- 
wards supported him on the Paris press, becoming one of his 
most trusty adherents. As such he opposed the expedition to 
Boulogne, predicting its failure, and some little estrangement 
ensued ; but after visiting the Prince at Ham Mocquard again 
became one of his representatives in Paris, and in 1848 it was 
he who chiefly organized those Bonapartist demonstrations 
which first prepared the way for the coming Empire. 

Mocquard was a man who detested ceremony and etiquette. 
Had he chosen he might have held some great public office. It 
is true that he was made both a grand officer of the Legion of 
Honour and a senator, but he very seldom went to the Luxem- 
bourg. He much preferred to work behind the scenes, in a 
semi-private capacity. Chief of Napoleon's Private Cabinet 
under the Republic, such he remained under the Empire. That 
he took a prominent part in planning the Coup d'Etat is well 
known. He helped to compose the various proclamations 
which were then issued, and all the drafts were in his hand- 
writing. He went into the affair prepared to sink or swim, 
and on that fateful night of December 1, when those who met 
in Napoleon's private room at the Elysee were full of anxiety, 
it was Mocquard who revived their spirits by jocular de- 
scriptions of Avhat would happen in a few hours' time. 

Poor little Monsieur Thiers, how that lock of hair a-top 
of his head would rise in amazement when he saw a police 
commissary enter his bedroom ! How dreadful would be the 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 141 

awakening of that doughty warrior, General Changarnier, 
forced to rise ^nd put on his stays in the presence of the 
grinning officers of the law ! It was to be hoped that Mme. 
de X. would not be there. Then, too, what a pompous oration 
the olympian Victor Hugo would deliver ! How blue Charras 
would turn in his impotent fury ! And how woefully qua?stor 
Baze would fume and fret at findino- himself caught like a rat 
in a trap, in spite of all his secret passages ! In that style 
Mocquard rattled on, sketching in turn all the anti-Bonapartists 
who were to be arrested, expatiating on their physical im- 
perfections, and mimicking their consternation at finding that 
they would have no nice hot cafe au lait by a warm fire-side 
that cold December morning. The Chef-de-cabinet's flow of 
spirits proved contagious. His fellow conspirators laughed, 
and anxiety subsided. 

For his duties at the Tuileries under the Empire Mocquard 
received d£*l!200 a year, and Napoleon furnished and granted 
him as residence a house in the Rue de Rivoli comprised in 
the dotation of the Crown. Inclusive of his pay as a senator 
and his Legion of Honour allowance, Mocquard's official income 
was about i?2600 per annum, but he also made a good deal of 
money by writing melodramas. How he found time to do so 
was a mystery, for his duties at the Tuileries were heavy. All 
the letters and despatches addressed to the Emperor (and they 
were legion) passed through his hands : he opened and classified 
them eai'ly every morning. He also worked Avith the Emperor 
for some hours each day, and he was constantly entrusted with 
confidential missions and negotiations, at one moment attending 
to Napoleon''s farming and land-reclaiming schemes ; at another 
having a furtive intei"view with some secret envoy on matters 
which, if divulged, might have made Europe tremble ; at 
another scolding or pacifying some greedy or angiy imperial 
mistress ; and at yet another betaking himself to the residence 
of some member of the imperial family, either to signify a 
private command or express the sovereign's displeasure. But, 
as we have said, he found time to write melodramas, sometimes, 
as with " La Fausse Adultere " and " La Fiance'e d'Albano," in 
conjunction with D'Ennery, then in his early prime ; or else, as 
with "La Tireuse de Cartes," in collaboration with Victor 



U2 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Sejour ; while on other occasions he produced pieces which 
were entirely his own, such as "Les Volontaires de 1814," and 
particularly the famous " Prise de Pekin," that most extra- 
ordinary, most comical, most successful military melodrama of 
the period, the memory of v^hich has haunted us for over forty 
years. 

Ah ! that play, and ah ! its hero — the fair-complexioned 
and red-whiskered War Correspondent of The Times, with 
his tropical helmet, his green "Derby" veil, his umbrella, his 
telescope, his camp-stool, and his portable desk, all of which 
he took into action, seating himself at the desk in the front 
rank of battle, and there carefully penning his " copy," quite 
regardless of shot and shell. " You will be killed if you remain 
there ! " a grizzly French sergeant cried to him. " Go to the 
rear ! " " To the rear ! " the hero of The Times indignantly 
retorted, while the bullets whistled around him. " Why, in 
that case, I should see nothing, and I have to describe this 
battle for the first newspaper of the first country in the 
world ! " Thereupon English spectators, who had previously 
felt inclined to resent the hero''s comical " make up," applauded 
frantically. 

The Avriting of melodramas was not Mocquard's only hobby. 
He had a penchant for American trotters, and it was a sight to 
see him occasionally whisking along the Rue de Rivoli and up 
the Champs Elysees, with " Flying Jenny," going her fastest, in 
front of him, and his "tiger" clinging behind. He was, let 
us add, a very tall, slim man, quick in his movements, and 
in his later years somewhat strange in his appearance. A few 
grey hairs fell over his broad, bumpy forehead, he had a long 
nose, black, sparkling eyes, and thin, twitching lips, which, on 
parting, disclosed the fact that he had lost nearly all his teeth. 
Excepting when he was absolutely forced to attend some official 
ceremony, he invariably wore a grey frockcoat — " la Redingote 
grise " of Napoleon I., seme used to call it, though others averred 
that it was the garb most appropriate to the Chef-de-cabinet"'s 
position, for was he not the " Eminence grise " hovering beside 
the purple of the throne ? In some circumstances Mocquard 
undoubtedly acted as Napoleon's alter ego, and he was certainly 
for many years the confidant of his most secret thoughts and 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 143 

schemes, the man who knew more of what was passing in his 
master's mind than either Morny, or Persigny, or Rouher, or 
even Fleury, that other coiifidant, ever knew. Mocquard died 
in December, 1864, and was buried with no little state and 
ceremony. On the Emperor''s behalf, M. de la Gueronniere 
pronounced a significant oration by the grave-side : " His 
Majesty,"" said he, "weeps to-day for the faithful servant 
who has so long been the depository of his thoughts." 

Mocquard's successor as Chef-de-cabinet was M. Charles 
Conti, a Corsican by birth and a lawyer by profession. His 
name is mentioned in some strange letters addressed to Ledru- 
Rollin about the time of the Revolution of 1848. He then 
courted Ledru -Rollings favour as a very zealous, advanced 
Republican. But he soon changed his tactics. Becoming a 
deputy, he voted for the Expedition to Rome, and later, as 
a Public Prosecutor, he made no secret of his animosity for 
all Republicans. A post as Councillor of State was his reward. 
Like Mocquard, Conti had a literary bent, but instead of writing 
melodramas he preferred to trifle with the Muses. He lacked 
the flow of spirits which distinguished his predecessor, being of 
a far more sedate disposition. Perhaps he was a more suitable 
Chef-de-cabinet for a sovereign of advancing years, but in any 
case we do not think he was ever taken as fully into the 
Emperor''s confidence as Mocquard had been. 

Under the Chef-de-cabinet was the Sous-chef, Avho for some 
years was M. de Dalmas. He did a great deal of work in 
connection with the correspondence, but neither he nor his 
successor, M. Sacaley, was entrusted as were Mocquard and 
Conti with any very secret matters. There was also, as already 
mentioned, the Emperor's private secretary, M. Eranceschini 
Pietri, a nephew of the two Prefects of Police of that name. 
M. Pietri's work was largely of a secret character. Having 
the custody of all the Emperor's cyphers and codes, it was he 
who translated and transcribed the despatches which arrived, 
and prepared the answers to them. He was in close attendance 
on Napoleon, during both the Italian campaign of 1859 and 
the war of 1870. At the Tuileries he led a life of extreme 
hard work, rising betimes and retiring late, having to remain 
with the Emperor every evening, unless there were a ball or a 



144 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

reception. It is well known that M. Pietri was an extremely 
faithful servant. He followed the imperial family into exile, 
and after Napoleon"** death acted as private secretary to the 
Imperial Prince and the Empress Eugenie successively. 

We have yet to speak of Charles Thelin, originally Napo- 
leon's valet, but promoted under the Empire to the posts of 
Keeper of the Privy Purse and Wardrobe Superintendent. The 
reward was not excessive, perhaps, for the services which he 
had rendered to his master. In 1840, while Dr. Connean, 
inside the fort of Ham, assisted Napoleon to escape from it, 
Thelin, who was outside, made the escape certain by providing 
the necessary vehicle and horses for flight. Under him at the 
Tuileries were all the Emperor''s valets, including even Cuxac 
and the latter's successor, Miiller, who followed Napoleon to 
England in 1871. Further, Thelin had charge of all the 
private jewellery and such of the crown jewellery as might be 
kept at the palace. Every article was enumerated in a ledger, 
and whenever the Emperor or Empress sent for one thing or 
another, a written order had to be handed to Thelin, and an 
entry made in the ledger to the effect that such or such an 
article had been given out. In due course its return was 
noted. Twice a year there was a careful verification of all the 
crown jewels in the presence of high officials of the Imperial 
Household. 

The work done in the Private Cabinet, that is in the rooms 
of the Emperor, Mocquard, Pietri, and Thelin, was of the most 
varied nature. Communications of all kinds poured in without 
cessation, and had to be attended to. Of petitions for pecuniary 
assistance or for employment of one or another kind, there was 
no end. One day the notorious Vidocq, of Detective Police 
fame, the author of the axiom, " Set a thief to catch a thief," 
writes thanking Mocquard for past favours, and reminding him 
that New Year's Day is at hand, and that he, Vidocq, is 
eighty-four years old, and poor. Then Prince Poniatowski 
writes that as the Emperor is unwilling to appoint him manager 
of the Opera, will he at least give him a receivership to the 
Treasury or a post in Algeria ? A certain M. Cerfbeer begs to 
be made a senator, grimly pointing out in his letter that it 
would not be for very long, as he is already seventy-four years 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 145 

old ! D'Aurelles de Paladines — destined to fight Von der 
Tann at Coulmiers, winning one of the few French victories of 
the War of 1870 — begs that he may be kept in active service, 
urging as one of his chief claims for that favour his services at 
the Coup d'Etat ! Then, too, the Prince de Crouj-Chanel, 
subsequently involved in some financial scandals, entreats the 
Emperor to confirm his title. And so on, and so on. 

Next there are quaint suggestions and angry denunciations. 
Some provincial magnate thinks it Avould be a good idea to 
turn all non-commissioned officers into village schoolmasters on 
their retirement from the army ; while another is indignant at 
the manner in which a certain regiment of Hussars behaves to 
the women of his localit}'. There are also curious, even aston- 
ishing, offers. A Mr. J. Blofield writes from Sloane Street, W., 
stating that he is the proud possessor of the identical truncheon 
which the Emperor carried Avhen he did duty as a special con- 
stable in London during the Chartist riots. He will be pleased, 
however, to sell it to the Emperor for £12. " Decline this 
offer," writes Napoleon on the margin of the letter. He had 
no further use for truncheons — his police were armed with 
deadlier weapons. But the prize for amusing offers is certainly 
due to a M. Raphael Osson, who states that he is the father of 
a son aged nine months, but " considering the exceptional and 
really prodigious qualities of the child," he regards himself as 
" unworthy to retain such a treasure," and thinks that " he 
cannot do better than offer it" to his Majesty the Emperor, 
for which sole purpose he has come all the way from Egypt 
to Paris ! That letter is not annotated ; but though the 
Emperor's family was very cosmopolitan, he can have had no 
desire to add to it any Egyptian baby, even a phenomenal 
one. We can picture the laugh which arose in the imperial 
sanctum when the gleeful Mocquard, anxious perhaps to drive 
some cloud from his master's brow, showed him that extra- 
ordinary letter. 

Quite as amusing, if in another way, is a petition addressed 
to the Imperial Prince, but referred to the Private Cabinet for 
consideration. It is written by a notable hairdresser of the 
time, one Edmond Lcspes, of the Boulevard Montmartre. 
'* Your young head," says he to the Prince, " needs no severe 

L 



146 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

coiffure^ such as that of Titus, nor even a coquettish wig, such 
as that of Louis XIV., but the best-disciphned things require 
guidance, and I should feel honoured if I were allowed to pass 
the light-brown tortoiseshell comb through your light-brown 
locks. I should not forget that I was touching a brow destined 
to wear a crown. I am not a traitor like Leonard [Marie 
Antoinette's coiffew'], nor a perfidious counsellor like Olivier le 
Daim [barber to Lous XI.]. I am not a political man at all, 
but merely a capillary artist." In spite of that elegant effusion 
— worthy of the other Lespes — Timothee Trimm of Le Petit 
Journal — we do not think that M. Edmond was ever appointed 
hairdresser to the Imperial Prince. He would scarcely have 
suited the Tuileries, for he was a talkative man, with far too 
many journalists among his Boulevardian customers. 

At another time, the Emperor having finished his " Life of 
Caesar,'" and despatched presentation copies to prominent 
French and foreign literary men, the Private Cabinet is inun- 
dated with letters of obsequious flattery and congratulation. 
Further, there are the innumerable petitions, drawings, models, 
and specimens emanating from inventors. These are all ex- 
amined and reported on, and again and again the Emperor, 
struck by some idea, grants the applicant a personal audience. 
On one occasion he gives a whole morning to M. Boutet, who 
comes to him with twenty or thirty huge plans of a projected 
brido-e over the Channel — one of the earliest schemes for linking 
England to France. 

Diplomacy also largely engages the attention of the Private 
Cabinet. The Foreign Minister is one of the most frequent of 
the Emperor''s visitors ; but there is also secret as well as official 
diplomacy. Here first germinates the so-called " greatest 
scheme of the reign," the foundation of an empire in Mexico ; 
here the idea of the annexation of Belgium is first mooted ; here 
orio-inates that of mediating between Prussia and Austria and 
securing Venetia for Italy. One mornmg, too, an estafette 
summons Fleury, who, after a brief chat with Napoleon, hurries 
away from France to prevail on Victor Emmanuel to renounce 
his ideas on Rome. Here, too, comes Lebrun before starting on 
his secret mission to Vienna, to prepare a combined Franco- 
Austrian attack on Prussia in 1871 — the attack which Prussia 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 147 

forestalls the previous year. Before then, Cavour and Bismarck 
and many others, famous ministers and unknown secret agents, 
had occupied the armchair which faces Napoleon*'s beside the 
fireplace in the imperial sanctum. It was well, perhaps, that 
the Emperor invariably strove to preserve an expressionless 
countenance, for he always sat in the armchair facing the light, 
to Avhich the others turned their backs. That was an imperial 
blunder, such as none of the many investigating magistrates at 
the Palais de Justice would ever have perpetrated. 

But let us picture the Emperor alone for a moment. 
Mocquard has just handed him one of " Elizabeth''s "" reports on 
the chit-chat and social scandals of Paris, and Napoleon scans 
it attentively, bent on ascertaining both what the royalist 
salons of the Faubourg St. Germain and the cafes of the 
Boulevards are saying and doing. At another moment a report 
from a secret agent in London receives attention, and the 
Emperor on reading it notes that Rimmel, the perfumei", 
Grillon, the landlord of the Clarendon Hotel, and Fechter, the 
actor, are described as " dangerous Orleanists." 

But here come the transcripts of the letters opened in the 
" Black Cabinet "" of the post-office, and if the Emperor likes 
he can pry into the secrets, not only of the regims's adversaries, 
but of his own ministers and aides-de-camp, and his wife''s ladies 
and equerries as well. The Prefect of Police is supposed 
to be trusted; nevertheless there are reports on him also, as 
there are others on the Director of Public Safety at the 
Ministry of the Interior. If a lady of rank takes a lover, or a 
married functionary a mistress, Napoleon learns all about it. It 
is the same when St. Arnaud loses heavily at the Bourse, and 
when Morny is not particularly careful to conceal the secret 
commission which he pockets over some shady speculation. 
Transcripts of private letters, written by such partisans as 
Baroche, Bazaine, and Rouher, arrive at the same time as tran- 
scripts of those penned by adversaries like Thiers, Clement 
Thomas, and Charras. It is a certain Simonel who directs the 
Cabinet Noir. Under him, from 1851 to 1859, is Commissary 
of Police Musse, and from 1859 to 1870 Commissaries Marseille 
and Berillon. Those are the gentlemen who operate, who 
seize, open, read, transcribe, and reseal all suspicious letters 



148 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

confided to the postal service, letters which are afterwards duly 
delivered at their addresses. Simonel often has to work very 
hard indeed. During the Mexican expedition, the Emperor 
becomes extremely anxious to ascertain the real truth respecting 
the situation. For that purpose private letters written by 
officers of the expeditionary corps are freely opened. Every 
time a Mexican mail arrives Simonel spends three days and 
nights " working at it," with the utmost diligence. Yet he is 
treated neglectfully. He is not a man of any means, and his 
secret emoluments are only paid him after long delays. At 
last he . complains privately to Persigny, who acquaints the 
Emperor with his position. 

The Civil List and the Privy Purse have to make many 
strange disbursements. If it is not Charles Thelin it is Pierre- 
INIichel Bure, the Emperor's foster-brother and Crown Treasurer, 
who has to provide money. At one moment large sums go to 
the Countess de Montijo. A memorandum, in which the year 
is not indicated, says: "Sent to Mme. de Montijo in Spain, 
through Messrs. Rothschild, Feb. 4, 600,000 francs; April 9, 
89,739 francs; May 27, 668,421 francs. Total, 1,358,160 
francs " — that is about =£'54,326. Some have wondered why so 
much money was sent to the Empress's mother. The most 
likely explanation is that it was in connection with the improve- 
ment and development of the Empress's estates in Spain. 
Napoleon, for his part, spent large amounts on the estates which 
he acquired in France, the tracts of country which he reclaimed 
and planted in Les Dombes and Les Landes ; all of which, be it 
noted, was very useful and beneficial work. The same may be 
said respecting the Emperor's experimental farm at La 
Fouilleuse, which, again, was no light tax on him. 

Let us now glance at one of Bure's registers. Here, item 
by item, is set forth the expenditure incurred at the baptism of 
the Imperial Prince — total £'35,920 ! Turn a few pages, here 
are extra allowances to Prince Achille Murat, making £'3328, 
special grants to Princess Anna Murat of .£333 per month, and 
the same to Pierre Bonaparte of £'80 a month over and beyond 
his regular allowance ; while during a long period £'120 is spent 
monthly on excavations in the Farnesina Gardens at Rome. 
Now peep into one of Th^lin's books. The Privy Purse seldom 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 149 

has any large balance in hand at the end of the month. Oat 
of <£'4<000 paid into it only a few hundreds will be left. 
Dusautoy, the tailor, relieves it of ^£'1000 or so from time to 
time ; Baron Jerome David, who will figure in our chapter 
on the imperial family, pockets money for furniture as well as 
for living expenses. And there is a hungry crew of official 
journalists duly provided for. Payments are made also to the 
executors of Lieutenant Aladenize, one of Napoleon's con- 
federates at Boulogne in 1840. 

We give on pages 150 and 151 two statements of accounts 
found in the Emperor's private room after the Revolution of 
1870. They include only regular payments foreseen in advance, 
and represent but a fraction of the outgoings. 

Yet other matters occupied the Private Cabinet. At one 
moment there was an elaborate scheme for the foundation of a 
new nobility. Ministers, judges, senators, prefects, and other 
functionaries were to be given titles, according to their office 
or the duration of their services. Reports were drawn up on 
the subject, a proposed law was even drafted and discussed by 
the Council of Ministers. The Empress, who held many titles 
herself and belonged to a country where they were very plentiful 
and also often absurd,* is said to have smiled upon this 
plan, but it came to nothing ; and only now and again did 
the Emperor create some duke, marquis, count, or baron. The 
scheme was, in part, based on the circumstance that the old 
nobility was fast dying out, and that, in particular, the titles 
granted in the time of Napoleon I. were lapsing year by year for 
lack of heirs. 

That was certainly quite true. As regards the old French 
aristocracy the average duration of a noble house was not more 
than three hundred years. Yet research has shown that the 
nobles often had many children. Three of the Montmorencys 
left fifteen sons, the four first Guises left thirty ; one of the 
Noailles had nineteen children, one of the Harlays eighteen, 
while the Birons, the Condes, the Villiers de TIsle-Adam, and 

* Could there be anything more ridiculous than such titles as Marquis of 
the Lover's Bock, Marquis of Eggshell (Algara), Marquis of the Calves' Grotto 
(Gueva de Becerros), Count of the Castle of Sparks, and Viscount of the Deep 
Bay of Royal Fidelity ? — aU of which may still be found in Spain. 



150 



THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 



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153 THE COURT OP THE TUH.ERIES 

many other families were at times so numerous that one might 
have thought they would last for ever. But they died off like 
the twenty branches of the Montmorencys, the seven of the 
Harcourts, and the six of the Luxembourg's. In like way few 
now remain of the noblesse of the First Empire, which was far 
less prolific than the older aristocracy, and has thus become 
well-nigh exhausted in a single century. But however repub- 
lican the majority of Frenchmen may be nowadays, there is 
still no lack of individuals who fancy a title and assume one — 
occasionally, by reason of some remote connection with a family 
of authentic noblesse, but more often without the faintest shadow 
of justification for their action. 

But let us leave that subject, and resume our survey of 
the Emperor''s Private Cabinet. He had literary proclivities, 
as we know, and on at least two occasions he thought of 
writing a novel. That is, a novel with a purpose. In the 
first instance, apparently, it was to have been a satire on the 
stubborn folly of some folk of the middle class in not rallying 
thoroughly to the support of the Empire. In the second it 
was to have glorified all the material progress made by France 
under the imperial auspices. In both cases the chief character 
was to have been, curiously enough, a grocer. First Rossignol, 
and later Benoit, was to have been his name. It is probable 
that the calling of grocer was chosen for this personage because 
then, as now, it was often associated with ignorance and 
stupidity. Henri Monnier and others had repeatedly satirized 
it, and sometime in the sixties, when the Emperor was thinking 
of this novel of his, a grocer''s assistant committed suicide in 
Paris under curious circumstances. He left a paper behind 
him stating that he had often endeavoured to embark in some 
other calling but had failed, having been invariably thrust back 
into the grocery line, though he loathed and detested it, as it 
was paltry, unmanly, and degrading. Finally, he asked that his 
savings might be applied to the expenses of his burial and the 
erection over his remains of a neat tombstone bearing the 
inscription : " Born to be a Man, but died a Grocer." 

Whether the Emperor ever read that tale in his favourite 
evening newspaper La Patrle, we do not know, but it might 
well have influenced him in choosinjr a calling- for his " hero." 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 153 

Memoranda respecting the two " plots " were found among his 
private papers after the fall of the Empire. In the first scheme 
Rossignol was portrayed as an obstinate, shallow individual, 
with antiquated and foolish ideas ; in the second Benoit was 
shown going to America in 1847 and returning to France in 
1868, when everything he beheld, the absolute transformation 
of the country under the beneficent Napoleonic sway, filled him 
with the utmost amazement. 

At various times the Emperor financed political newspapers, 
such as Le Cojistitutionnel, Le Pays, V Etendard, Le Public, 
Le Dl;v Decemhre, VEpoqiie, (whose nominal owner was his 
tailor Dusautoy), and Le Peuple Fran^ais, for which Thelin, 
with many shakes of the head, had to disburse in one year 
no less than ii'56,000. Most of this financing was done 
during the last period of the regime, when, more liberty having 
been given to the press, several opposition journals were 
started, and it was thought necessary to have organs to answer 
their attacks. Occasionally the Emperor wrote articles for 
these journals, more particularly for Le D'lx Decenibre, or, 
if he did not actually write them, he drew up, as an 
editor might do, memoranda setting forth various facts and 
arguments which he wished to see elaborated. Several such 
memoranda were found at the Tuileries after Sedan, and 
journalists of a class were by no means the least frequent 
visitors to the Private Cabinet — though, of course, many were 
dealt with by the official Press Bureau at the Ministry of the 
Interior. During the last years of the Empire the interest 
which Napoleon took in journalism seemed to indicate that he 
no longer held the opinion, so often expressed in his early years 
and his prime, that the best newspaper in the world was not 
worth a rap. 

Amono' the curious and notable meetino;s which occurred in 
the Emperor's private room was one with his foster sister, 
Mme. Cornu, in the spring of 1863. She who, in spite of her 
misshapen frame, was at heart one of the straightest of women 
as well as possessed of a shrewd and clever mind,* had broken 

* She helped him to write his book on artillery practice. Although hump- 
backed, she had found a husband in the person of a painter of considerable 
talent, whose speciality was the decoration of churches. 



354 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

off nearly all intercourse with him since the Coup d'Etat, 
which she blamed severely. He repeatedly tried to bring about 
a reconciliation, sent her New Year greetings, wrote to her 
respecting his " Life of Caesar," and so forth. But her answers 
were very brief, and she was unwilling to visit him. At last, 
at the time w^e have mentioned, he wrote her an urgent letter 
saying that long years had elapsed since their last meeting, 
and that he did not wish to die before seeing her embrace his 
son, who was just completing his seventh year. Mme. Cornu 
was touched by the appeal, and allowed the Countess Walewska 
to conduct her to the Tuileries. 

She found both Napoleon and the Empress Eugenie 
awaiting her, and the former, throwing his arms round her 
neck, kissed her heartily. "You bad woman," said he; "for 
twelve years past you have refused to unbend to me." Without 
replying, she returned his kiss. They all felt very moved and 
even shed tears. At last, making Mme. Cornu seat herself 
in one armchair, and the Empress in the other, while he took 
his stand with his back to the fireplace. Napoleon sent Mme. 
Walewska for the little Imperial Prince. He came in, all 
alacrity, but was much surprised when the strange lady took 
him in her arms and kissed him. His father afterwards wished 
him to recite one of the fables he had learnt. " But I have 
forgotten the beginnings," said he. "Then let us have the 
ends," the Emperor replied. " But I have forgotten them too." 
"Let us hear the middle then." "Papa," the little fellow 
retorted, "where does a middle begin .P" "Your Majesty will 
find it difficult to answer that question," said Mme. Cornu.* 
It was she who afterwards recommended the Prince's first tutor, 
M. Francis Monnier. 

Another remarkable woman who sometimes sat in the 
Emperor's private room and not only advised, but occasionally 
chided him, was Queen Sophia of Holland, whom her husband 
(the father of the present Queen Wilhelmina by his second 
marriage) neglected for " la belle Madame Musard " and others. 

* She herself told the story to Mrs. M. C. M. Simpson, the daughter of 
Nassau Senior, and the author of " Many Memories of Many People," in 
which we read it several years ago. We have given it, as closely as a note 
made at the time permits, in Mrs, Simpson's words. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 155 

Queen Sophia, born a Princess of Wurtemberg, was first-cousin 
to Prince Napoleon Jerome and Princess Mathilde. A woman 
of great culture and sound political acumen, she corresponded 
with the Emperor during several years, but he often tried her 
patience severely by neglecting good advice. With an abundance 
of light golden hair, she had been very handsome when young, 
and she long retained a fine figure. The little money allowed 
her by her husband was chiefly spent in charity, and whenever 
she travelled it was usually incognita, attended only by a maid 
and a single lady-in-waiting. During her sojourns in Paris 
Queen Sophia often slipped into the Tuileries to chat with the 
Emperor and criticize what he had been doing or what he 
intended to do. The role she played could hardly be called, 
however, that of either an Egeria or a Mentor, it was rather 
the part of a " Candid Friend." 

That private room of the Emperor's, which witnessed so 
much work and so many interviews, also had its legend — a 
legend of roguery and blood. One day in 1853, according to 
one version of the story — it is a story with many variations, as 
will be seen — Napoleon laid, on the table or the mantelpiece, 
a sura of dfPSOOO in banknotes. He had occasion to leave the 
room, and on returning he found the money gone. Three people 
had been in the apartment during his absence, and the Chief 
of the Palace Police, who was summoned, inquired their names. 
"General Cornemuse" was the first one given. "General 
Cornemuse," said the official ; " well, it may have been he who 
took the notes, and yet I am surprised at his doing so. But 
who else came in?" "King Jerome." "Oh, in that case we 
need not trouble about Cornemuse. But Avas there nobody 
else ? " " Yes, St. Arnaud was here." " In that case we need 
not look further. The money must certainly have been taken 
by him." 

The upshot of the affair (still according to the story) was 
that St. Arnaud, being accused of the theft, denied it, that an 
altercation arose between him and Cornemuse,* that they fought 

* He was born at St, Malo in 1797, enlisted under the first Empire, served 
under the Duke d'Angouleme in Spain in 1823, and was at the siege of Ant- 
werp in 1831. He became a General of Brigade in 1849, and in the following 
year was appointed Chief of the Staff of the army of Paris, in which capacity 
he participated in the Coup d'Etat. 



156 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

with their swords, and that Cornemuse was killed. According 
to one version the duel took place in a room of the palace, 
according to another in a corridor, according to a third in the 
palace garden in the evening, and by the light of candelabra, 
which either the seconds or some servants held aloft. But if 
another account is to be believed, there was no theft at all in 
the Emperor's private room. Napoleon, it is asserted, sent 
Cornemuse to St. Arnaud with a sum of money to pay one of 
his gambling debts, in return for which assistance St. Arnaud 
was to hand over certain papers, notably a signed order of the 
Coup d'Etat period, instructing him to sweep Paris with shot 
and shell, and even set it on fire if there should be the slightest 
resistance. Cornemuse went with the money to St. Arnaud, 
who, it is alleged, contrived to secure it without parting 
with the documents, though he solemnly promised that he 
would hand them over at a ball at the Tuileries that same 
evening. At the ball, however, when Cornemuse asked for the 
papers, St. Arnaud made all sorts of excuses, and finally refused 
to surrender them. Angry words were then exchanged, and 
the two men fought in the garden, as previously mentioned. 
St. Arnaud was twice wounded, once in the body and the second 
time in the left arm ; but making a last desperate lunge, he 
finally got home, piercing Cornemuse in the abdomen and kill- 
ing him. 

That is a resume of a secret police report on the rumours of 
the time, which adds that people said a perquisition had been 
made in St. Arnaud's apartments at the War Ministry, but had 
yielded no result, and that St. Arnaud being badly wounded, 
had been granted leave of absence on the score of ill health, 
his post being provisionally assigned to M. Ducos. That 
certainly happened, but all the rest may be regarded as fable. 
St. Arnaud's ill health was notorious, and it eventually resulted 
in his death. It was not due to any wound inflicted by Corne- 
muse or another. Moreover, neither the theft nor the duel took 
place, though rumours about them certainly circulated in Paris 
at the time, and even found their way into English and other 
foreign newspapers. Subsequently the story was repeated in 
one or another form in several histories, memoirs, French news- 
papers, and even encyclopsedias, eventually suggesting to Emile 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS PRIVATE CABINET 157 

Gaboriau some part of the plot of his novel " La Degringolade." 
Yet it was all legend, a legend without foundation, concocted, 
like many other stories, to cast discredit both on St. Arnaud 
personally and on the Empire and its institutions. 

According to members of the Cornemuse family who knew 
the truth, the General, overburdened by great responsibilities 
and worries, had been ailing for some time when, on the evening 
of February 19, 1853, he was suddenly attacked by congestion 
of the lungs. Three medical men attended him, Drs. Chaumel, 
Cruveilhier, and Coqueret, and immediately opined that the 
attack would have a fatal issue. The General lingered for 
about a fortnight, however, expiring on March 7, when the 
immediate cause of death was a rupture of the neck of the 
aorta. That statement, put forward at the time, was then 
scouted by the enemies of the Empire, but nowadays, the 
vindictive passions of that period having subsided, there is 
really no reason to question the accuracy of the family account. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 

The Empress's Private Apartments — Charles Chaplin's Masterpiece — 
Dubufe's Beauties of the Tuileries — The Empress's Work- room — The 
Imperial Correspondence — The Cabinet-de-toilette and the Bedchamber — 
The Empress's Wardrobe — Pepa, the Head-maid — The Story of the 
Crinoline — The Cost of the Empress's Gowns — The Crown Jewels — The 
Empress's Charities — Her Treatment of her Son — Her Intercourse with 
M6rim6e — Her Travels and Eegencies — Her Share in Politics — Her 
Championship of the Pope — Her Opposition to Liberal Reforms — Her 
Visit to Scotland — The Emperor's Decree of November 23, 1860— Enmity 
between Persigny and the Empress — Her Presence at Cabinet Councils^ 
Her Failure as a Politician. 

It will have been understood already that the Empress's private 
apartments at the Tuileries were above the Emperor''s. Let us 
ascend to them by the broad white marble staircase starting from 
the same vestibule by which we entered the various rooms of 
the Imperial Private Cabinet. Thick Turkey carpets are spread 
over the marble slabs, and from the walls hang ancient tapestry, 
quaintly depicting the transformation of Daphne into a laurel 
bush. On the right hand of the first-floor landing is the 
entrance to the Hall of the Marshals, on the left that to the 
Empress's apartments, a suite of some ten rooms. In the first, 
a small ante-chamber, we find the sovereign's private ushers in 
brown and silver coats, black silk stockings, and buckled shoes, 
together with a couple of footmen in the ordinary palace livery. 
Biguet, the chief usher, a very devoted, confidential retainer, 
who followed the Empress to England in 1870, and died there, 
was known familiarly as the " thirteenth Lady of the Palace," 
from the fact that whenever a lady who should have been on 
duty happened to be absent, he undertook to attend to any 
passing matter in which he could replace her. 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATLTRES OF HEll LIFE 159 

From the aute-room you passed into the first of the 
Empress's salons, the one in which her ladies and her chamber- 
lain Avere stationed. This was generally known as the Salon 
Vert, the walls being painted a pale green, over which soft 
ground M. Burette had traced endless arabesques of a darker 
verdure, picked out with gold, each panel being framed with 
gilded mouldings. A prodigious basket of flowers by Ghequier 
was depicted on the ceiling, while in the cartouches above each 
door were other blooms, with birds of the brightest hues flutter- 
ing hither and thither. The fine gilded Louis XVI. furniture 
was upholstered in Beauvais tapestry, figuring bouquets of 
flowers on a white ground. The ceiling of the second salon, 
known as the Salon Rose, and serving as visitors' waiting-room, 
Avas the masterpiece of Charles Chaplin, who for our delectation 
transmitted to our times some of the " tradition " of Leraoyne, 
Boucher, and Fragonard. He and Lefuel, the architect, were, 
we believe, chiefly responsible for the general scheme of decora- 
tion adopted for the Empress's private drawing-rooms, but the 
Salon Rose, as we have mentioned, contained Chaplin's par- 
ticular chef d'oeuvre — annihilated, unfortunately, like all the 
rest, when the palace was consumed by fire. 

Some descriptions of the apartment say that Chaplin's ceil- 
ing represented the triumph of Flora ; but if our memory serves 
us aright, the Flora depicted by the painter was the Empress 
Eugenie. In the centre of the ceiling there was a medallion 
portrait of her, enframed by a garland of roses held by the 
three Graces, around whom were scattered symbolical figures 
of the Arts, while one of several winged genii appeared bear- 
ing the infant Imperial Prince in a basket of flowers, and 
others either drove away a bank of clouds or roused Aurora, 
whose roseate flush overspread the heavens, which descended to 
the cornices, where the painter had depicted some gilded trellis 
work wreathed with opening flowers. Other blooms poured from 
medallions at the corners of the ceiling, delicate rosy arabesques 
adorned the walls, while floral subjects again appeared in each 
of the six dessus-de-porte. First came the pansy, crowned with 
stars under a crescent moon ; next a subject introducing a 
nymph encircling her brow with cornflowers, while beside her 
slept a companion crowned with poppies ; then the violet was 



160 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

shown, growing in the shade cast by a stately laurel. Naiads 
followed, crowned with water-lilies and reeds, then came the 
obvious subject of the marguerite — " he loves me a little, dearly, 
passionately, not at all "" — and finally the rose, cleverly typified 
by Aurora. The white marble chimney-piece of this room was 
of beautiful workmanship, inlaid in parts with lapis lazuli, 
serving as a background to golden roses. The furniture was 
similar to that of the Salon Vert, and four large mirrors framed 
with wreathing flowers reflected the superb vista of the Tuileries 
garden and the Champs Elysees. 

Next came the Salon Bleu, where the Empress gave audience, 
and where the cartouches over the doors contained medallion 
portraits of six of the greatest beauties of the time. They 
were the work of Edouard Dubufe, and included three blondes 
and three brunettes. On one side Sophie Troubetskoi, Duchess 
de Morny, with her light flaxen hair crowned with the head- 
dress of her native land, smiled down on you with dark vivacious 
eyes, sparkling in a somewhat pallid face ; then Anna Murat, 
Duchess de Mouchy, with fresh bright cheeks added to her fair 
ringlets, served almost to typify a young English girl ; while 
Egle de la Moskowa, Duchess de Persigny, shone forth radiant 
as a goddess amid the glory of her golden fleece. Nor were the 
brunettes less beautiful. The Countess Walewska, nee Ricci, 
was garbed appropriately as a Florentine; the Duchess de 
Cadore typified Haidee, while the young Duchess de Malakoff", 
the Empress's compatriot, wore the mantilla and the deep red 
bloom of the genuine Granadina. It is deplorable that those 
paintings were destroyed. They would nowadays be, in their 
way, as famous as are the "Beauties of Hampton Court.'" 

The Empress's three salons, with their white satin curtains, 
gilded chairs and sofas, marquetry cabinets, crystal chandeliers, 
and splendid mirrors, clocks, vases, and candelabra of bronze, 
silver, and porcelain, as well as their profusion of freshly cut 
flowers, added to all those depicted on walls and ceilings, were 
well worthy of the wife of the ruler of France. There was, 
perhaps, rather too much gilding, or at least the gilding was 
too new, and needed the softening touch of time. Unluckily, 
there came the Commune. 

The Empress's Cabinet or workroom followed the Salon 



THE EMrRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 161 

Bleu. Its walls were hung with a green satin-striped material, 
the curtains and upholstery were of purple silk, the doors and 
window framework of mahogany, and the chimney-piece of red 
marble. A fine old mahogany writing-table occupied the 
centre of the room, a large sofa and two small tables, with 
covers embroidered by the Empress herself, being near it. Her 
favourite armchair was on the left of the fireplace beside a low 
round table for writing materials, so that while seated in the 
chair she could take pen, paper, and blotting-pad, place the 
latter on her knees, and write by the fireside : this being a habit 
with her. Between the two windows stood a cabinet contain- 
ing curios of various kinds, including the eagle's quill with 
which the Peace of Paris was signed after the Crimean War, 
and the damaged hat which Napoleon HI. wore on the night 
of Orsini's attempt outside the Opera-house. Then, before one 
of the windows was a table covered with materials for water- 
colour painting, while in one corner you saw a fine old mahogany 
grandfather clock, and in others some short columns surmounted 
by bronze female figures holding candelabra. From the mantel- 
piece another fine female figure, in white marble, and with a star 
on the brow, seemed to be soaring aloft attended by a cupid who 
raised a burning torch, while on either side of this charming piece 
of statuary some superb bronze vases from the Chinese Summer 
Palace threw up long curving leaves of a dusky golden hue. 

Against the wall facing the windows was Cabanel's life-size 
portrait of Napoleon HI. in a black Court costume, dress coat, 
breeches and stockings, and with the star of the Legion of 
Honour on his breast. It showed the Emperor in his mature 
prime, with his abundant and somewhat wavy dark chestnut 
hair, his deep expressionless eyes, colourless cheeks, moustache 
of a medium brown and imperial of somewhat lighter hue. 
This was one of the best portraits of Napoleon ever painted, 
and Cabanel was to have executed one of the Empress also, but 
the commission was repeatedly postponed, and after the Revolu- 
tion abandoned. By way, however, of adding to the beauties 
who smiled down from above the doors, the Empress's work- 
room was further adorned with portraits of Princesses Mathilde 
and Clotilde and the Duchess d'Albe. A study of Italian 
women by Hebert and one of Ruth by Cabanel hung on either 

M 



162 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

side of a kind of arch, between whose curtains of violet and 
gold you passed into a spacious annexe to the Cabinet de Travail. 
Here you found a number of low bookcases full of French, 
English, Spanish, and Italian classics, and surmounted by 
statuettes, vases, busts, and curios, while several small paintings 
by Wouvermans and others hung from the walls, and photo- 
graphs and miniatures were scattered over the tables. 

On the right of this second room there was a kind of 
windowless closet, where a hanging lamp was always kept 
alight. Beyond this little chamber came the private stairs, by 
which communication was established between the Emperor's 
sanctum and the Empress's. In the walls all round the closet 
were nests of drawers filled with the private correspondence of 
the Imperial family. In 1870 the Empress, with curious fore- 
sight and prudence, had this large collection of private papers 
removed from the Tuileries, in such wise that it escaped seizure 
at the hands of the officials of the new Republic, who were 
therefore only able to examine and publish a comparatively 
limited number of documents which for one or another reason 
had not passed into the Empress's custody. Curiously enough, 
among the letters made public at that time Avas one from the 
director of the State Archives, asking that old papers of the 
Imperial Cabinet might be transmitted to him from time to 
time for safe keeping. He little knew that the Empress was 
gathering together all she could, and that she, her reader and 
some of her other ladies spent no little of their time in classi- 
fying the papers thus obtained. It follows that, so far as the 
Second Empire is concerned, there are many lacunm in the 
National Archives of France. By that we do not mean to 
suggest that official state documents are in the Empress's 
possession, biit she certainly holds a large number of private 
papers which would cast light on official ones. Some years ago 
it was more than once hinted that she had it in her power to 
print some very damaging revelations respecting many of those 
who, when the Empire had fallen, were among the loudest in 
denouncing it. She has preferred, however, to cast a veil over 
the past, and even if the historical student should ever be 
privileged to consult her collections, it is probable that this 
will only come to pass after an interval of many years. 



THE EMPRESS ; SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 163 

Beyond the Empress's workroom there was another salon, 
briofht and spacious, which, during her earlier years at the 
Tuileries, served as her Cabinet de Toilette. Adjoining it was 
a little oratory, where she heard mass from time to time and 
where Abbe Deguerry of the Madeleine prepared the Imperial 
Prince for his First Communion. Near at hand, the Empress's 
spacious bedroom retained an old-world aspect, Avith its gilded 
mouldings, its heavy sumptuous hangings, its pompous allegorical 
paintings, and its great bedstead standing on a platform. 
Here the Empress kept the Golden Rose sent to her by 
Pius IX. in 1855, as well as a golden spray of flowers, the 
Pontiflf's gift to his godson, the Imperial Prince ; Avhile at the 
head of the bed hung a branch of " palm " which had received 
the papal blessing. Every year, when Palm Sunday came round, 
the Empress received such a branch from Rome. 

The Cabinet de Toilette was chiefly remarkable for the 
number of mirrors it contained. The basins, ewers, dishes, 
and trays were mostly of porcelain. The bath was not of 
silver, like Mme. Dubarry's, nor did the Empress imitate that 
belle impure by using milk for her ablutions. There was just 
one toilet-table set of silver-gilt, which had belonged to Queen 
Hortense. Everything else was very simple but appropriate — 
all the requirements of a woman careful of her beauty being 
provided for. As for the Empress's wardrobe, this was kept in 
a suite of rooms overhead, with which a small lift communi- 
cated, whatever articles she might require being sent down to 
the Cabinet de Toilette by that means. 

Count d'Herisson has told some lively tales of the immense 
number of gowns which he found in the Empress's wardrobe 
rooms after the Revolution of 1870, but his assertions must be 
taken with many grains of salt. His idea that those gowns 
represented an outlay of several millions of francs was absolutely 
preposterous. The Empress's private allowance was ,£'48,000 a 
year, and so much of that amount was expended by her in 
charity that she could never have afforded to accumulate such 
a wardrobe as M. d'Herisson imagined he beheld. There was, 
moreover, a rigid system of control. Every article purchased 
for the wardrobe received a number on its arrival at the 
Tuileries, and an entry of it was made in one or another 



164 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

register, according to its nature. Regularly every three months 
the registers were inspected, and the wardrobe itself was passed 
in review. AVhenever anything had quite gone out of fashion, 
or appeared to be really superfluous, it was disposed of, and 
careful accounts were kept of all those outgoings. It is true 
that the Empress was very generous with her maids, among 
whom she distributed twice a year a large number of gowns, 
bonnets, and other articles. Pepa Narro, her head-maid and 
private treasurer,* throve on many pickings and perquisites. 
She was said to be the daughter of a Spanish general, that is, 
of one of those adventurers who rose to some military position 
during the civil wars in Spain. Dark and lean, in some respects 
very devoted to her mistress, but always keeping the main chance 
before her eyes, and often treating her subordinates with a 
severity which became tyrannical, Pepa contrived to marry an 
infantry colonel named Pollet, who, if we remember rightly, was 
killed during the war of 1870. She followed the Empress to 
England, but the climate there did not suit her, and she found 
too that the old days of secret commissions and other pickings 
were quite past ; so she returned to her native Spain with the 
handsome fortune which she had accumulated, and which went 
on her death to some very distant relations. 

There were several maids under Mme. Pollet at the Tuileries, 
including the daughters of the Emperor's former gaoler at Ham ; 
and the Empress's private service also included a resident dress- 
maker and assistants who made many of her less elaborate 
gowns. She was partial to black velvet, white satin, and 
various shades of blue. The story that she invented the 
crinoline is one of those preposterous but deep-rooted legends 
against which it is only possible to enter a protest without any 
hope of destroying it. We will just mention, however, that 
crinoline was originally the name of a hair cloth or stiifening 
material, largely employed by costumiers in the time of Louis 
Philippe, Avho used it notably in connexion with the leg o'' 
mutton and balloon sleeves, to which our grandmothers were 

* At first the post of head femme-de-cliamhre was held by the young and 
pretty Mme. Dupuis, wife of the first maitre d'hdtel, but she had not the 
orderly, regular habits needed for the post, and had, therefore, to retire : 
whereupon Pepa, previously second, was promoted to be first maid. 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 165 

at one and another moment partial. When, about the time of 
the re-establishment of the Empire, the distended skirt began 
to come into fashion once more, this same material, crinoline, 
was again used for stiffening purposes. Those ladies, however, 
who emerged from an assembly with their gowns crumpled, 
found that crinoline, when once " broken," no longer distended 
their skirts properly. It was then that a Faubourg St. Antoine 
manufacturer, remembering the old hoops, and thinking of 
the cost and comparative scarcity of whalebone, conceived the 
idea of a light, cage-like, metal structure, which he christened 
crinoline after the virtually discarded material that we have 
mentioned. For the first year or so the new invention met 
with little favour, but in 1855 it occurred to the Empress that 
the circumstance of her being enceinte would be less apparent 
if she wore one of the new crinolines. This she did, and she 
thereby certainly gave an immense impetus to the fashion 
which, once it was in vogue, could not be got rid of for many 
years. Drapers and mercers, let us add, found it much to their 
interest to keep the crinoline going. The larger it became, the 
greater was the amount of material needed for a skirt ; and as 
ladies of fashion could not afford, for reputation''s sake, to have 
fewer gowns than usual in a season, their expenditure on frocks 
became enormous. Even when some of the leading costumiers 
headed a reaction they were unable to kill the monstrosity out- 
right. It survived in a mitigated form even under the rohe- 
tunique, and threatened a retoiir offerisif with the robe a panzers 
of the last years of the Empire. 

At various times the Empress herself has made statements 
respecting the average cost of her gowns. It may be taken, we 
think, that £50 is about the correct figure, some gowns having 
cost a great deal less than that amount and others a great deal 
more. The Empress''s morning attire was always remarkably 
simple. We have seen her wearing plain stuff gowns made for 
her by her private dressmaker in the palace at a cost of less 
than £5. But when she was receiving visitors, or when she 
appeared in public she was dressed as became her rank. 
Assuming that she had forty new gowns every year (the 
highest possible estimate according to our recollection of her 
habits), at the average cost which has been already stated, 



166 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

we should reach a total of ^2000. To that amount should 
be added, however, the outlay on bonnets, mantles, shawls, 
gloves, shoes, underwear, parasols, etc. Good lace, once pur- 
chased, served over and over again. In shoes the Empress was 
perhaps extravagant, wearing them very few times, and then 
sending them to the orphan girls of the asylum under her con- 
trol. Nevertheless, making all allowances, we do not think that 
the greatest lady of fashion in Europe spent altogether more 
than d£'5000 upon her toilette in any one year ; and we believe 
that there were years when her expenditure was considerably 
less. Let us say, then, that from first to last, throughout the 
reign, she spent from eighty to ninety thousand pounds on 
articles of apparel. In that case it follows that when Count 
d'Herisson discovered at the Tuileries frocks and frills repre- 
senting a quarter of a million sterling, he must have been the 
victim of some optical delusion. He can have understood 
neither what he saw nor what he was writing about. 

Madame Pollet, the Empress's head-maid, had charge of 
such of her mistress's private jewellery as was more or less in 
daily use, the rest, like the crown jewels, being, as previously 
stated, in the custody of M. Charles Thelin. A large number 
of the crown jewels were reset in accordance with modern taste 
soon after the establishment of the Empire. Although there 
was never any coronation ceremony, crowns were made for both 
the Emperor and Empress, but the latter preferred to wear a 
diadem even on the greatest State occasions. Apart from the 
Regent diamond, the crown jewels which she wore or used the 
more frequently, were a comb, a herthe, some brooches, a belt, 
a bouguet-de-corsage, and a fan. The belt, composed almost 
entirely of diamonds, and popularly styled " the girdle of 
Venus," was made in 1864, and fetched only =£6600 at the 
sale of the crown jewels in 1887. But then the stones, 2414 
in number, were very small and not all of the first water. 
Far finer was the large diamond comb, composed of 208 brilliants 
weighing 438 carats, and the price it realised in 1887 — nearly 
£26,000 — was by no means excessive. The diamond shoulder- 
clasps, which supported the Empress's train or manteau de cour 
were also remarkably fine, being formed of over 130 brilliants 
weighing 282 carats. The herthe with its diamonds, rubies, 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 16T 

sapphires, and emeralds, formed a very charming jewel, and 
the aiguillettes in the Marie-Antoinette style were also effective. 
Further, there was a beautiful chain of over 800 diamonds, 
which, on being sold, fetched £li^4tO ; while c£*4800 were given 
for the principal brooch, a lovely jewel of more than 300 
stones. It was the Grecian diadem which the Empress wore 
the more frequently. Over 600 brilliants were set in it, yet 
it sold for no more than ^^5260 ; while only ^^7200 were 
given for the Russian diadem with its 1200 brilliants and its 
440 roses. As a matter of fact, however large may have been 
the total amount of money realized by the sale of the French 
crown jewels, many lots were disposed of for much less than 
they would fetch nowadays when the magnates at the head of 
the diamond trade neglect no occasion to prevent what they 
regard as an undue fall in prices. 

The Empress's mornings were largely given to charitable 
work. In addition to the Eugene-Napoleon asylum for orphan 
girls, founded with the money which the city of Paris had 
off'ered to expend on jewellery at the time of her marriage, and 
afterwards maintained chiefly by her own resources, there were 
many other institutions in which she took a close interest. She 
gave the chateau of Longchene to the city of Lyons to serve as 
a convalescent home, she extended patronage and considerable 
pecuniary help to such institutions as the Loan to Labour 
Society (which provided artisans with tools and raw materials), 
the Seamen's Orphanage, the Lifeboat Society, the Funds for 
assisting both old seamen and the families of soldiers killed in 
warfare (Crimea, Italy, etc.) ; and in addition to the particular 
solicitude which she evinced in the Children's Hospital in the 
Faubourg St. Antoine, she became chief patroness of all homes 
and asylums for the young in France. It is well known, too, 
that she constantly visited the poorer districts of Paris, doing 
good by stealth, leaving money and provisions in humble homes 
which never learnt the name of their benefactress. Many a time 
did her little dark one-horse brougham, with its coachman in 
the plainest of liveries, wait for her at the corner of some street 
in such revolutionary districts as Montmartre, Menilmontant, 
and Belleville, while with a single lady companion, preferably 
Canoness de Rayneval or Mile. Bouvet, she climbed in her 



168 THE COURT 01^ THE TUILERIES 

plain dark garb to some fifth-floor garret to relieve distress. 
In the afternoon all would be altered : in silk and satin and 
velvet she would seat herself in her open carriage drawn a la 
d'Aumont hy four horses, with postilions, to drive up the 
Champs Elysees, and thence round the lake in the Bois de 
Boulogne. Occasionally she herself drove a pair-horse chaise.* 

No doubt her visits to the victims of the cholera in Paris and 
at Amiens in 1865 and 1866 were magnified beyond measure 
by official newspapers and courtiers, but they were kindly actions, 
not devoid of risk, and it is quite certain that the Empress 
always showed herself a good-hearted woman. The assertion 
that she proved a very indifferent mother was simply one of 
the foolish slanders of the time. She exercised no little super- 
vision over the rearing of the Imperial Prince, devoting several 
hours a day to the boy or his requirements and interests. 
But neither she nor the Emperor would let him be coddled ; 
and it was because their English notions in that respect con- 
flicted with the absurd views then entertained by so many 
French mothers, prone to excessive petting and fondling, that 
the legend of the Empress's indifference to her child found 
credence. At Compiegne, when the Prince was a little chap of 
two years old or so, the ladies en visite to the Court were 
horrified to find that, if he happened to fall down while he 
was running about, he was left to pick himself up without 
assistance, and that if he cried without rhyme or reason, he 
was scolded for doing so. All that was quite foreign to their 
ideas, and from the idiotic tittle-tattle which ensued came the 
libellous aspersions on the Empress as a mother. She took a 
large part in nursing the little Prince during the ailments of 
his childhood, notably when he was laid up by a severe attack 
of measles, which he caught from a little girl who was intro- 
duced to him at a children's party at the Tuileries. 

It was usually in the afternoon before driving out that 
the Empress granted audiences in the rooms we have already 
described. On her return home she attended to such corre- 
spondence as might have been left over since the morning, or 

* The Emperor was partial to phaetons. We saw him more than once 
driving about Paris incognito in a vehicle of that description, with the Prince 
cf Wales (now Edward VII.) as his companion. See ipost, p, 305. 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER UFE 169 

spent an hour or two reading either some book of the time or 
the day's newspapers. It is said that Fustel de Coulanges 
prepared for her a course of study in French history. AVe 
ourselves should hardly have selected the author of " La Cite 
Antique," for such a duty, for in spite of all his erudition he 
was scarcely the man to convey to one occupying the Empress's 
station the true significance of the history of the country which 
she helped to rule. Merimee, however, was, to all appearance, 
her chief literary mentor. He had known her ever since her 
childhood, and although there is considerable exaggeration in 
his own accounts of their intercourse, he certainly exercised 
great influence at Court when questions of literary- taste, the 
choice and the criticism of books, arose. The Emperor did 
not like Merimee, and the Empress on her side did not like 
Sainte-Beuve, to whom her husband was rather partial. As it 
happened, both Sainte-Beuve and Merimee were cynics, but 
Mdrim^e's cynicism was lighter and less offensive to a devout 
mind than his colleague's. He was also a courtier, which 
Sainte-Beuve \vas not, and an adept in frivolity and trifling. 
Thus he not only made himself acceptable, but even requisite 
Avhenever the Court wished to cast care to the winds and look 
only on the lighter and brighter side of life. 

However, Merimee added nothing to his reputation, or 
to French literature, by the verses, the charades, and the 
"proverbs" which he penned for the passing amusement of 
the imperial set. The manuscript of a tale of his, called " La 
Chambre Bleue," was found in the Empress's private rooms 
after the Revolution of 1870. It subsequently perished in 
the conflagration of the palace ; but abstracts of it had then 
been drafted, and from these it seems to have been a story 
of the Vie Parisieime, or Gil Bias * type, an account of a 
vulgar, chance, sexual intrigue in the "blue room" of a 
country inn. We do not say that Merimee supplied only 
literature of that description to the Empress, but the circum- 
stance that he should have presumed to tender her "La 
Chambre Bleue," shows that she was not in the best hands 
with respect to literary matters. Perhaps such a proceeding 
as M^rimee's would have been resented by her had the culprit 
* The newspaper, of course — not the masterpiece of Le Sage. 



170 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

been another ; but by reason of their thirty or thirty-five years' 
intercourse, it was impossible for her to quarrel with the 
author of "Carmen,"" as he well knew. And thus he often 
presumed farther than was seemly. 

After dinner at the Tuileries, when no entertainment there 
or elsewhere figured in the Court's programme, the Empress 
usually spent the evening in conversation with the ladies and 
officers on duty. From time to time, as we mentioned in our 
previous chapter, the Emperor popped like some " Jack-in-the- 
box ■" up the private stairs, in quest of a cup of tea or other 
refreshment. However innocent the conversation might be, it 
then abruptly ceased ; but directly Napoleon had returned to 
his work downstairs, the Empress started a fresh subject, and 
kept the talk going until a somewhat late hour. At times, 
indeed, being a poor sleeper herself, she overlooked the 
sleepiness of others, who were unable to withdraw for the night 
until she gave the signal. 

She frequently travelled about France, accompanying the 
Emperor on most of his visits to provincial centres. One year, 
too, she went with him to Algeria. At another time she 
visited Corsica with the Imperial Prince, while on a third 
occasion she represented France at the inauguration of the 
Suez Canal, her stay in Egypt being preceded by visits to Venice, 
Athens, and Constantinople. She was then accompanied by 
her nieces, the daughters of the Duchess d'Albe. They often 
resided at the Tuileries after their mother's death. 

The Empress acted as Regent of France on three occasions 
— in 1859, during the Solferino-Magenta campaign ; in the 
summer of 1865, when the Emperor was in Algeria ; and again 
in 1870, from his departure to join the army of the Rhine until 
the fall of the Empire. With a romantic attachment for the 
memory of Marie- Antoinette she was minded, in more than one 
circumstance, to take that indiscreet and ill-fated Queen as her 
model. So long as she remained content v/ith studying Marie- 
Antoinette's correspondence in the company of M. Feuillet de 
Conches, weeping over her farewell billet to Madame Elizabeth 
by the side of Viel Castel, at the Musee des Souverains, or 
turning the historic cell at the Conciergerie into a chapel, no 
harm was done, but when, in imitation of Marie-Antoinette, she 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OP HER LIFE 171 

initiated both a foreign and a home policy of her own at 
variance with the poHcy favoured by her husband and his 
official advisers, she did the greatest harm, if not to France 
itself, at least to the regime which had given her a crown. 
There are some things which must be said. AVhatever might 
be the Empress Eugenie's personal attractions and natural 
goodness of heart, whatever Scotch blood, too, might flow in 
her veins, she was in matters of faith and reverence for Rome a 
Spanish zealot of the most uncompromising type. It was 
because Pope Pius IX. and Cardinal Antonelli knew that they 
could rely upon her influence at the Tuileries that they acted so 
stubbornly, perversely, and foolishly in the various crises in 
Italian affairs Avhich occurred during the fifties and the sixties. 
The Empress could not prevent the war of 1859,* which, in 
spite of its lame conclusion, did so much to accelerate the union 
of Italy ; but we believe that her influence was one of the two 
factors which brought about the hastily concluded peace of 
Villafranca, the other being the fear of Prussian intervention in 
Austria's favour. As for the legend that Napoleon III. made 
peace because he had been horrified by the sight of the slaughter 
in the engagements he had witnessed, one may dismiss it as a 
fairy tale fit only for children. 

In her husband's absence from France at that period, the 
Empress, as Regent, neglected no opportunity to further clerical 
interests. The publication of Edmond About's work, " La 
Question Romaine,*' and the controversy it provoked filled her 
with alarm, and it was at her instigation that the Ministers 
seized the pamphlet and prosecuted its author. She had not 
even taken the trouble to read it, as is shown by the minutes of 
the Regency Council at which the prosecution Avas decided, but 
" the scandal it created " was enough for her. In the following- 
year her position as Papal champion in France became more 
and more difficult. Napoleo'n having decided on a policy of 

* It has been asserted that she did not take any large part in politics until 
about 1865 ; but it is certain that she privately exerted her influence, par- 
ticularly in religious questions, from the time of her marriage onward. As 
the years elapsed, various circumstances tended to make her more and more 
of a politician. Her taste of authority during her first regency, coupled with 
the worries of her life when her husband was attracted by other women, had 
a fatal influence on her after-career. 



172 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

neutrality in Italian affairs — and he could hardly have adopted 
any other after the cession of Savoy and Nice — set out with the 
Empress to visit the newly acquired territories, and then crossed 
the Mediterranean to Algeria. It was the great time of 
Garibaldi and the war of the Two Sicilies. Italy was liberating 
and redeeming herself, and English public opinion was thoroughly 
on her side. Such protests as emanated from the Court of the 
Tuileries, with respect, for instance, to the Piedmontese occupa- 
tion of the Roman Legations, were more matters of form than 
anything else, for it was understood that Victor Emmanuel 
would not enter Rome itself; and the imperial tour was the 
best proof that Napoleon did not meditate active intervention. 
But at Algiers news was received of the alarming illness of the 
Empress's sister, and an immediate return to France ensued. 
On arriving at St. Cloud the Empress learnt that she was too 
late, that the Duchess d'Albe was dead. 

Her grief was undoubtedly very sincere and deep ; her sister 
had been her confidante in many respects, notably with regard 
to incidents which, every now and again, clouded her married 
life. But whatever her sorrow might be, the political situation 
was such that she could not neglect it. We do not know what 
share she may have had in the numerous successive proposals 
which Napoleon HI. made about that time to Pius IX. with 
the view of adjusting the position of the Papacy in the midst 
of united Italy. We are only aware that the Pope issued a 
document rejecting every suggestion, whether it were made by 
Napoleon or by Cavour, and that by his own obstinacy he was 
reduced to a minimum of precarious territorial sovereignty. He 
seems to have imagined until the very last that France would 
intervene actively to restore to him the full extent of the States 
of the Church ; and it appears certain that his hopes were 
centred in the Empress Eugenie. For the moment, however, 
France did little beyond ensuring to the Papacy the possession 
of the city of Rome, and, although her fleet long rode at anchor 
in the Bay of Gaeta, she likewise left Francis of Naples to his 
fate. As regards the Neapolitan question, whatever may have 
been the views of the Empress Eugenie, Napoleon III. was too 
good a Bonapartist to bolster up any Bourbon Prince ; and, 
besides, his fleet could hardly have intervened with impunity, so 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 173 

strong had the torrent of British opinion in favour of united 
Italy now become, although, only the previous year, the partial 
liberation of the northern provinces by the Solferino-Magenta 
campaign had been viewed by English statesmen with grave 
distrust. 

The time was a trying one for the Empress Eugenie, her 
influence was defeated on all sides, and her very presence in 
France at such a moment became inconvenient, both for herself 
and for others. Home affairs, moreover, were about to enter 
on a new phase. The thrones of Europe which had been 
severely shaken by the French Revolution of 1848, felt that 
they were, in like way, if in a somewhat less marked degree, 
menaced by the Italian outburst of 1860. The cry of 
*' Freedom ! " is contagious, as rulers well know. Thus, in the 
autumn of I860, there were signs in various continental 
countries of concessions to popular feeling and opinion, and 
Napoleon III. himself realized that he must, at least, make 
some show of granting to his subjects a larger measure of 
participation in the government of the country than he had 
hitherto allowed them. While he did not desire to meet with 
the fate of Francis of Naples, he was in no hurry to give 
complete liberty to the French ; he was influenced rather by the 
thought that small concessions might, if well-timed, suffice to 
prevent any outburst in France. In that respect, however, he 
again found the Empresses entourage on the other side. 

Even many conservative Imperialists who were not tinged 
with clericalism then looked to her as to their leader and 
representative. It was supposed, rightly or wrongly, that she 
would regard any liberal constitutional changes with distrust, 
for fear lest her son's prospects might thereby be endangered. 
The Emperor, however, had come to the conclusion that such 
changes must be made. Again, then, in this respect, the 
Empress's presence at Court in the autumn of 1860 was incon- 
venient. Perhaps she herself was conscious of it. Perhaps, as 
she found that she could not prevent what was impending 
either at home or abroad, she was unwilling that her presence 
should be construed as connivance or assent. Perhaps, on the 
other hand, it was the Emperor who thought it best that she 
should not be exposed to importunate and irrealizable appeals 



174 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

with regard either to his home or to his foreign policy. In any 
case, all Court intrigues in favour of the Pope, or the King of 
Naples, or the maintenance of absolutism in France were cut 
short or forestalled by a decisive incident. 

On November 14, 1860, the Empress, attended by Mmes. de 
Montebello and de Saulcy, Colonel Fave, and the Marquis de La 
Grange, quitted Paris, and after crossing the Channel in the 
ordinary packet-boat, arrived in a common four-Avheeler at 
Claridge''s Hotel in London. For some days the French official 
journals said no word on the subject, but the Presse published 
the news on the afternoon of the 14th, while the Bours6 was 
still in full swing, and an immediate fall in Rentes and other 
securities was the result of the general amazement. 

The Emperor's conjugal fidelity being widely doubted, 
most people assumed that he was to blame for the Empress's 
sudden and mysterious flitting. Thus all kinds of stories were 
circulated in Paris during the next few days, and the scandal, 
flashing like lightning across Europe, soon assumed such pro- 
portions that the Moniteur could no longer keep silent. On 
the 18th, then, it printed the following announcement : — " The 
sad blow experienced by her Majesty the Empress in her family 
affections [her sister's death] having rendered a change of air 
necessary for her health, her Majesty left three days ago to 
make, in the most private manner, a few weeks' tour in England 
and Scotland. The Emperor accompanied her Majesty to the 
railway station on her departure on Wednesday morning." 

The motive assigned to the journey by that announcement 
was very generally discredited by the Parisians, for the death of 
the Duchess d'Albe had occurred two months previously ; and 
the English newspapers openly expressed their amazement that 
Scotland, at that moment enveloped in mist, should have been 
selected as the spot for the Empress — born under the sun of 
Granada — to recruit her health, " pai'ticularly," said the Times, 
"as Nice, with its fine climate, is now French territory." 

In those days the Empress's political role at the Tuileries 
was not generally known, and the reasons why it might have 
seemed desirable for her to be out of the way during that 
European crisis were only recognized by certain diplomatists. 
To none of those who saw her during her tour in Scotland did 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 1T5 

she appear to be at all ailing. She visited Edinburgh, Abbots- 
ford, and Melrose, Perth, Dunkeld, Stirling, Glasgow, and the 
Lochs, afterwards going south, staying at Manchester and 
Leamington, and returning to London on December 2. On the 
4th she went to Windsor, where she and her escort lunched 
with the Queen and the Prince Consort. Several days were 
afterwards spent in viewing the sights of London, and, finally, 
on the night of December 12, the Empress returned to France, 
being met by her husband at Amiens. 

During her absence the Emperor had effected some notable 
changes by his famous Decree of November 23, which was the 
first step towards the transformation of the Personal into the 
Liberal Empire. This decree gave the Legislative Body 
the right both to discuss and present addresses in reply to the 
speeches from the Throne, and the privilege (under certain 
restrictionsj of proposing amendments to laws. It further 
authorized the publication of reports of the legislative pro- 
ceedings. The concessions were small, and would nowadays 
appear ludicrous, but one must remember what the regime had 
been ever since 1851. Moreover, even those slight concessions 
created alarm among the more fervent imperialists. 

At the Council at which they were announced the various 
ministers listened in amazement to the remarks which fell from 
Napoleon's lips. According to what we were once told by one 
Avho was then present, the Emperor declared that he was of 
opinion that when a Government did not in due time make 
reasonable concessions and reforms, such as the country mio-ht 
desire, it was fatally destined to collapse, and that he himself 
was not for unreasoning resistance to national aspirations. He 
did not like the existing composition of the Legislature. Men 
of parts ought to be attracted to it, but such would only 
serve if they were at least free to express opinions and tender 
advice. Although M. Berryer, for instance, was notoriously 
a Legitimist, it had, nevertheless, been possible for him to serve 
as a deputy under the Orleans monarchy, and, moreover, Legiti- 
mists, Orleanists, and Bonapartists had sat in the various 
Republican Assemblies. Thus, within the limits of the Consti- 
tution, there ought to be free access to the Imperial Legislature. 
For his part he was heartily tired of a Chamber of nonentities 



176 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

(and here he mentioned various names), and wished to see 
something very different. Finally, he read the decree he had 
prepared. His words fell like bomb-shells in the midst of his 
advisers, and Morny, who, as President of the Legislative Body, 
attended the Council, could not conceal his amazement. What ! 
the Legislature was to be empowered to discuss and present an 
address, and thereby pass judgment on the policy of the Govern- 
ment ! It was inconceivable. Nevertheless, there was the 
decree, and the Emperor looked resolute enough. Morny tried 
to expostulate. He earnestly warned the Emperor of the 
danger of acting too hastily, and inquired what he would do if, 
under the new conditions, the Chamber should express, in its 
address to the Throne, disapproval of the imperial policy. 
*' In that case," the Emperor replied, " I should dissolve it, and 
consult the country," " But what if the next Chamber should 
also disapprove of your Majesty's policy?" "In that case," 
said the Emperor, " I should yield, and adopt the policy 
recommended by the representatives." The Ministers, Baroche, 
Billault, and Rouher looked thunderstruck, but felt that sub- 
mission was their only course. Perhaps if the Empress Eugenie 
had been present they might have attempted resistance under 
her leadership, but she was well out of the way, in Scotland. 

Certain ministerial changes followed, Persigny being sum- 
moned from the London embassy, and placed once more at the 
head of the Ministry of the Interior. He and the Empress were 
far from being on good terms. He dreaded her interference in 
political matters. Without questioning her right to preside at 
the Council in times of Regency, he bitterly complained that 
she made it more and more her practice to attend the Minis- 
terial gatherings when the Emperor was present. A few years 
later, after his retirement, he actually submitted the question 
to the Emperor, questioning whether the Empress had any 
right to attend the Government Councils. Strictly speaking 
she had not ; and it is true, we believe, that she offered to 
abstain from attending if the Emperor thought her presence 
undesirable. But he protested the contrary — he owed his wife 
some compensation for his neglect in other respects — and it 
thus came to pass that during the latter period of the Empire, 
the Empress almost invariably took her seat at the Ministerial 



THE EMPRESS : SOME FEATURES OF HER LIFE 177 

Councils, presided over them if the Emperor were ill or 
momentarily absent, participated in all the important dis- 
cussions, and brought her influence to bear on the decisions 
arrived at. With some of the Ministers she got on very well ; 
M. Magne, who long held the portfolio of Finances, was one of 
her particular henchmen, while the bumptious Rouher, becom- 
ing at the Tuileries very different from what he was in the 
Chamber, fawningly courted her favour, she in return supporting 
the authority which he used so often with disastrous results. 
In Emile Ollivier she seems to have met, in some respects, her 
match, for he, with his oily, wheedling way, almost converted 
her to liberalism, and contrived by dint of strategy to hold her 
former reactionary ideas in check. 

But, however large became the part which the Empress 
played in politics, she never proved herself an expert politician, 
perhaps because she never really understood the character of 
the nation she helped to govern. She was not deficient in 
moral courage, she could come to a decision promptly, and give 
orders in accordance with it. But the decision was so often 
based on faulty judgment, narrowness of views, that its results 
were unfortunate. One day when she referred to Marie- 
Antoinette as mon type, she spoke perhaps more truly than she 
knew, for she had much the same defects of character as that 
ill-fated queen. 

For our part we have always felt that the great misfortune 
of the Empress's life was that, having been raised to a 
throne, she was accorded so considerable a part of the throne's 
authority. As the wife of a mere millionaire grandee she would 
have proved a supreme leader of fashion and an ideal " Lady 
Bountiful." In any case it is to be regretted that she was not 
strictly confined within the limits of her position as Empress- 
Consort. At the same time, if she emerged from that position 
to play so marked a political role, the fault was less hers than 
the Emperor's. He, of course, was not responsible for her 
incessant championship of the Pope. That had been initiated 
by Clericals playing on her deep religious convictions, but we 
do not think she would have concerned herself so much with 
politics generally if her married life had been happier than it was. 
Thereby hangs a tale, to be told in our next chapter. 

N 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 

Descendants of Napoleon I. and Napoleon III. — Count Walewski's Posterity— 
His Son by Eachel, the Tragedienne — Catherine de la Plaigne and Count 
L^on — Count Leon's Children — Napoleon 111,'s First Love Affair — . 
El^onore Brault, Madame Gordon — Her Devotion at Strasburg — Miss 
Howard — Her Birth and Name — Count Fleury's Account of her Life in 
London— Some of her Loans to Napoleon — Was he the Father of her Son ? 
— His Intrigue with Alexandrine Vergeot and his Sons by her — Miss 
Howard in France — Her fresh Services to Napoleon — Odilon-Barrot 
and the Andr6-Howard Affair — Napoleon's remarkable Letter about it 
— Miss Howard's Ambition — Her Appearance at a Tuileries Reception 
— She is restrained and pacified by Mocquard — The Compensation 
granted her — A Letter from her to Mocquard — Her Marriage and her 
Last Years — Later Intrigues imputed to the Emperor — Viel Castel and 
Princess Mathilde — Expulsion of a Lady-Scandalmonger from the 
Tuileries — Cheap Sweetmeats for Imperial Favourites — The Affair of 
the Countess de Castiglione — Viel Castel's Sketch and Fleury's Estimate 
of her — Her Expulsion from the Tuileries — Her later life — Marguerite 
BeUanger and her Origin — Her Imposition on the Emperor — Her Letters 
to him and to President Devienne — Suspension of Devienne from the 
Bench — He justifies himself and is reinstated — The Empress's Worries 
— Louis XV. and Napoleon III. 

It is often forgotten that there are people in the world who 
are lineally descended from Napoleon I. and Napoleon III. It 
is true that their names do not appear in the " Almanach de 
Gotha," and that they do not bear the name of Bonaparte. 
Nevertheless their descent, if left-handed, is quite authentic, 
and time brings about such strange occurrences that, even as at 
the present moment (1906) we see the Jerome branch of the 
Bonapartes prominently represented in the Government of the 
United States of America, so, at some future date, there may 
arise some President or Prime Minister of the French Republic 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 179 

in a position to say that the blood of the victor of Austerlitz, 
or of the vanquished of Sedan, flows in his veins. 

Count Walewski, the first Napoleon's son, had four children 
by his two marriages, and is still represented by legitimate 
posterity. In 1844, moreover, after the death of his first 
wife (Catherine Montagu Sandwich), and before his marriage 
with Anna Alexandrina Ricci of Florence, who, we believe, is 
still alive, he became the father of a son by Elizabeth Rachel 
Felix — famous as Rachel the tragedienne. This son he formally 
recognized as his offspring in accordance with the provisions of 
French law, in such wise that the child became legally entitled 
to the names of Antoine Jean Colonna Walewski. M. Antoine 
Jean entered the French consular service, rose to a high position 
in it, and survived until 1898. Thirty years previously he had 
married Mile. Jeanne Claire Sala, of Paris, by whom he had a 
son and a daughter. The former. Captain Andre Alexandre 
Maurice Colonna Walewski, of the French artillery, married 
Mile, de Molinos in 1901. We do not know whether they 
have offspring, but the Captain himself is indisputably the 
great-grandson of Napoleon I. 

The same Emperor also left a son by another mistress, 
Louise Catherine Denuelle de la Plaigne, who, at the time of 
the Emperor's intrigue with her, was married to a certain Jean 
Franpois Revel. He, discovering her infidelity, obtained a 
divorce from her on April 29, 1806. On the following 6th of 
December she gave birth to a son by the Emperor, which son 
received at his baptism the Christian names of Charles Leon, 
and, from his imperial father, the title of Count, Avith settle- 
ments representing ,£'3000 a year, and also a right to certain 
dues on all the wood sold by the State from the forests of the 
department of the Moselle.* In 1808 the mother married a 
captain of Cuirassiers named Augier, this marriage being 
arranged by Napoleon, who then settled on the bride a personal 
income of d£*800 a year. Captain Augier, however, died in or 
about 1812, and two years later his widow took a third husband 
in the person of Karl August, Count von Luxburg, Minister 
of State of the Grand Duchy of Baden. The Countess de 
Luxbourg, as she was called in Paris, lived until 1868 in receipt 
* Imperial decrees of April 30, May 8 and 31, and June 29, 1815. 



180 THE COURT OP THE TUILEllIES 

of not merely the income of her settlement but of frequent 
financial help from Napoleon III., who also did a great deal for 
her son. There must still be many people able to remember 
Count Leon, as he was called. His origin was stamped upon 
his face, he was physically the living portrait of the great 
captain. He ought never to have known want, having been 
provided with such a handsome income by Napoleon, who 
further entrusted him to the guardianship of M. de Mauvieres, 
with whose sons he was educated with a view to his entering 
the magistracy. On completing his twenty-first year Leon came 
into possession of the fortune which had been accumulating 
during his minority. Unluckily he had a bad failing, he was 
a gamester, and no long period elapsed before he had reduced 
himself to beggary. At the advent of the Second Empire he 
not unnaturally applied to Napoleon III. for assistance, assert- 
ing, moreover, a right to a sum of about .£35,000, which he 
alleged was due to him by the State on account of the wood 
cut in the Moselle forests in 1815. But in that respect the first 
Napoleon's decrees had been annulled by the Bourbons. How- 
ever, the new Emperor at first helped Leon both willingly and 
handsomely, and, further, put him in the way of making money 
by procuring him appointments in connection with the plan- 
ning of new railway lines. Still, no matter what might be 
done for Leon, he was ever in difficulties, as well as cantan- 
kerous in disposition, repeatedly quarrelling with the Minister of 
Public Works over sums which he claimed in connection with 
railway enterprises. Briefly, the Emperor, after repeatedly 
paying his debts — ^£'2000 and more at a time — ended by cutting 
him down to an annual pension of £24^0 from the Privy Purse, 
and turning almost invariably a deaf ear to his appeals for 
further assistance, which, by the way, never ceased. At one 
moment he wanted the concession of a railway line from Tours 
to Montlupon, at another he solicited the privilege of con- 
structing some of the new boulevards of Paris, while at other 
times his wife wrote to the Emperor appealing either for small 
sums or else for orders for a Belgian mining company, in which 
she was somehow interested. It is uncertain whether these 
applications (traces of which were found at the Tuileries after 
the Revolution of 1870) were granted, but Leon's children 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 181 

obtained free schooling at the college of Ste. Barbe, His wife, 
it may be mentioned, was a Mile. Jouet, of Belgian origin — the 
offspring of the marriage, which took place in 1862, being a 
daughter, Charlotte, and three sons, Charles, Gaston, and 
Fernand, some of whom married and have issue, in such wise 
that on this side also there exist a number of great-grand- 
children of Napoleon I. The family calls itself nowadays " De 
Leon." The original Count Leon died in April, 1881, at 
Pontoise, near Paris. 

Such then are the descendants of the first Napoleon. Let 
us now turn to those of the third. His intrigues with women 
of various nationalities and stations in life were numerous. It 
is said — we will not vouch for the story, but it is in any case a 
good one — that when he was a mere stripling, sojourning with 
his mother at Florence, he was seized with a desperate attack 
of calf-love for an Italian lady of rank, and that in order to 
obtain an opportunity for declaring his passion he disguised 
himself as an itinerant flower-boy, in Avhich character he 
contrived to enter the lady*'s house. But when a la 
Trovatore he cast himself pleadingly at her feet, she screamed 
and summoned her servants, with the result that there was 
quite a scandal, and Prince Precocious was compelled to 
quit the city. 

The future Emperor''s first mistress of any real note was a 
Parisienne named Eleonore Marie Brault, who was born in 
September, 1808, became a professional singer, and married, in 
1831, a certain Archer Gordon, or Gordon Archer, a Colonel of 
the Foreign Legion in the service of Isabella II. of Spain. 
This individual died soon after the marriage, and sometime 
afterwards Mme. Gordon, who travelled about, giving concerts 
in one and another town, attracted the attention of the young 
Prince Louis Napoleon, who became her lover. Whether they 
first met in Germany or Switzerland is doubtful, but it has often 
been said that Mme. Gordon gave birth to a daughter who 
died in infancy. In connection with the preparations for the 
Strasburg attempt of 1836 she proved herself one of the most 
skilful and devoted of the future Emperor"'s allies. While he 
was endeavouring to gain the support of some of the soldiery at 
the artillery barracks, she remained in her room in the Rue de 



182 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

la Nuee Bleue, awaiting the result ; but directly Persigny arrived 
with the news that the attempt had failed, she cast into the 
fireplace all the letters, decrees, proclamations, and lists of 
names which had been prepared in view of a more fortunate 
issue, and piled the furniture of the room against the door, 
so that every compromising paper was burnt to ashes before 
an entry could be effected by the police, who had promptly 
arrived upon the scene. The Strasburg affair resulted, it will 
be remembered, in the Prince's enforced voyage to America. 
Whether he ever met Mme. Gordon again, we cannot say, but 
in any case there was no resumption of the old relations. She 
died in Paris on March 11, 1849, that is three months after 
Napoleon's elevation to the Presidency of the Republic. It has 
been said that her circumstances were much reduced at the time 
of her death and that her former lover was well aware of it, yet 
did nothing to help her. Such callousness, however, would be 
so utterly at variance with all we know of his character that 
we strongly doubt the story. 

Mme. Gordon's successor in his affections after his return 
to Europe was the beautiful and notorious Miss Howard, 
whose exact origin we have not investigated, but who is 
described in the entry of her death in the registers of the 
parish of La Celle St. Cloud, near Paris, as " Elizabeth Anne 
Haryett, called Miss Howard, Countess de Beauregard, born in 
England in 1823." We also find her grandson registered at his 
birth in 1870 as " Richard Martyn Haryett," whence one might 
infer that Haryett was a surname. In that connection let us add 
that some English works state that Harnett was Miss Howard's 
real name. Count Fleury calls her "Miss Harriet Howard," 
which may be correct, though we ourselves think that she had 
no more right to the name of Howard as a patronymic than had 
the famous Mr. Bugg.* 

Count Fleury tells us that at the time when Napoleon made 
her acquaintance in London she was living there under the 
protection of Major Mountjoy Martyn of the 2nd Life Guards,t 

* After she had been made a Countess, she usually signed her letters 
" E. H. de Beauregard." 

t Francis Mountjoy Martyn (previously Martin), born in 1809, a brevet 
colonel in 1858, sold out in 1863, died in London, January 24, 1874. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 183 

having previously been the mistress of a famous steeplechase 
rider. We ourselves only saw Miss Howard in her last days, 
when she had become extremely stout, but even then her face 
retained a good deal of the beauty for which she had been 
renowned. According to those who knew her in her London 
days she then had an exquisite figure, at once stately and 
graceful, with a head and features such as only one of the great 
Greek sculptors could have chiselled. Among the many 
members of the aristocracy who met at her house in London 
were the Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Chesterfield, the Earl 
of Malmesbury, and Count d'Orsay. It was the last named, 
according to Fleury, who presented Louis Napoleon to her, and 
he was immediately smitten. The intrigue which ensued lasted 
until the end of 1852, when the Prince decided to marry Mile, 
de Montijo. It is extremely doubtful whether Miss Howard 
financed the Boulogne attempt of August, 1840. Count Orsi, 
who was subsequently pensioned for his services at that time, 
asserts that he negotiated a loan of ^£'20,000 for the enterprise ; 
but, on the other hand, there are many stories of how Miss 
Howard offered the Prince all she possessed, even proposing to 
sell her diamonds. It is in any case certain that she gave him 
much pecuniary assistance at other times, and we know by a 
document found at the Tuileries that at the period of the 
establishment of the Empire she still held a mortgage on the 
estate of Civita Nuova, in the March of Ancona, which 
Napoleon had inherited from his father — the said mortgage 
being annulled by the payment to Miss Howard of a sum of 
^40,000 on March 25, 1853. We think that Napoleon had 
not waited till the time of the Coup d'Etat to raise money on 
his Italian property, and that his indebtedness to Miss Howard 
in that respect as in others was of long standing. 

Sonie six years of imprisonment at Ham — October, 1840, 
to May, 1846 — followed the fiasco of Boulogne. During that 
long interval Miss Howard, it is said, corresponded with the 
prisoner. But did she visit him in prison? That is a point 
which Ave have been unable to solve, yet it is one of some 
interest, for we find it stated in French official records that 
Miss Howard's son, Martin-Constantin, whom the Emperor 
created Count de Bechevet, was born in London on August 16, 



184 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

1842. Now, in the days of the Empire the Count de Bechevet 
was regarded by everybody as the son of Napoleon HI, In 
that case either Miss Howard went to Ham late in 1841, or 
there is a voluntary or involuntary error in the recorded date 
of the Count de Bechevet"'s birth. If neither of those surmises 
is correct the Count cannot have been the son of the Emperor.* 
Of course there is nothing impossible in the supposition that Miss 
Howard visited Ham. Napoleon certainly applied by letter for 
permission to receive lady visitors, and may have obtained it ; 
and we know that his captivity was so far from being rigorous 
that he contrived to carry on an intrigue with a young person 
named Alexandrine Eleonore Vergeot, who, according to the 
most credible account, washed his linen, though some writers 
have called her a " basket-maker," and others " a maker of 
wooden shoes."" In any case she became the mother of two 
sons by the Prince, the elder, Alexandre Louis Eugene, being 
born on February 25, 1843, and the younger, Alexandre Louis 
Ernest, on March 18, 1845. Curiously enough, in August, 
1858, Alexandrine Vergeot married none other than M. Pierre 
Bure, Napoleon's foster-brother, and treasurer to the Crown.f 
Miss Howard does not appear to have resented the Prince''s 
infidelity at Ham, for subsequently she took temporary charge 
of Alexandrine Vergeofs children, and made arrangements for 
their education. This gave rise to the reports that she had 
not one son but several sons by Napoleon III. 

The elder of the brothers Vergeot entered the French Con- 
sular Service, and the younger the Department of Finances, 
becoming eventually a Receiver to the Treasury, a very re- 
munerative post. By two decrees dated June 11, 1870, and 
countersigned by M. Emile Ollivier, Napoleon bestowed the 
title of Count d'Orx on the elder, and of Count de Labenne on 
the younger of these illegitimate sons of his, at the same time 
presenting them with the aforesaid estates of Orx and Labenne, 
which formed part of the extensive tract of country reclaimed 
and planted by him in the Landes. The Emperor had at one 

• The alleged date of Miss Howard's birth (1823) must be wrong, as it 
would make her but 17 at the time of the Boulogne affair. 

t Born at Estouilly, Somme, September 3, 1820, she died at Le V^sinet, 
pear Paris, in August, 1886, Her husband died in January, 1882, 



TPIE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 185 

time transferred that property to Count Walewski, but after 
the latter's death he took it over again by arrangement with 
his cousin's widow. Count d'Orx is, we think, still alive, but 
Count de Labenne died in 1882, leaving no issue. 

Let us now return to Miss Howard. There is no doubt 
that she assisted Napoleon from her purse during the last years 
of his life in England. When he proceeded to Paris after the 
Revolution of 1848, she followed him thither, and while he 
installed himself at the Hotel du Rhin in the Place Vendome, 
which became the headquarters of the Bonapartist agitation, 
she betook herself to Meurice's, then par excellence the English 
hotel in Paris. When her lover had been elected President of 
the Republic, a well-appointed little house was rented for Miss 
Howard in the Rue du Cirque, close to the Elysee Palace, 
which had become Napoleon's residence. Whenever he could 
escape from business at the Elysee he spent his evenings in the 
Rue du Cirque, where his intimates, Fleury, Mocquard, Edgar 
Ney, Count de Toulongeon (his orderly officer), and Count 
Baciocchi also assembled. Various Bonapartist journalists, 
some artists, and sundry Englishmen — conspicuous among 
whom was the Marquis of Hertford — also met the Prince at 
Miss Howard's. Few women were found there, and their 
positions resembled that of the mistress of the house. 

In spite of the emoluments which the Prince received as 
President of the Republic, his "struggle for life" continued to 
be very severe, for the Bonapartist propaganda had to be 
financed, and few of his acolytes had means of their own. 
Thus Miss Howard again came to the rescue, on one occasion 
rendering the Prince a service similar to that of Fould's, 
recorded in our second chapter * — that is to say, in 1851, 
when some of Napoleon's promissory notes had been protested 
by Montaut, a banker of the Palais Royal, Miss Howard 
spent a part of her remaining resources in discharging the 
debt. At the same time, whatever her services might be, she 
gradually became a cause of serious trouble and inconvenience. 
No nation is more indulgent than the French with respect 
to a man's affaires de coeur. Nevertheless, the Prince's close 
connection with Miss Howard and the part she took in his affairs 
* See ante, p. 37, 



186 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

scandalized many people, and thus proved detrimental to his 
political interests, for various notabilities shrank from joining 
his cause on account of the looseness of his life. 

Already, in 1849, a very unpleasant episode occurred with 
respect to Miss Howard. The Prince then made a journey to 
Tours and Saumur, in which latter town the State Cavalry 
School gave an entertainment in his honour. Among those 
who accompanied him was his mistress. On arriving at Tours 
a question arose of finding lodgings for her, and it occurred to 
an official, Avho was approached on the subject, to install her at 
the house of a M. Andre, Receiver to the Treasury, who was 
then absent with his wife at some Pyrenean spa. The Andres 
were Protestants, and when they afterwards heard of what had 
happened they complained warmly, perhaps over warmly, about 
the insult offered to them and their house by introducing into 
it under a false name a svoman of bad character. In a letter 
which M. Andre addressed to Napoleon's chief minister, M. 
Odilon-Barrot, he inquired : " Have we gone back, then, to the 
days when the mistresses of our kings exhibited the scandal of 
their lives in town after town of France ? " M. Barrot was very 
much upset and embarrassed by the affair. It seemed to him, 
he tells us in his " Memoirs," that M. Andre attached excessive 
importance to an incident which could only have been due to 
some indiscretion or mistake on the part of a subordinate. He 
therefore did not wish to make a State affair of the matter, though, 
on the other hand, he says, he " was not sorry that the President 
should learn that in the high position to which he had been 
raised, it was no longer allowable for him to lead the free and 
easy life which he had led in London."" Accordingly the Prime 
Minister arranged matters in such a way that, with the help of 
his brother (M. Ferdinand Barrot, then Secretary-general to the 
President), M. Andre's letter might come accidentally, as it 
were, before the Prince. This plan was carried out, and shortly 
afterwards Odilon-Barrot received a letter on the subject from 
Napoleon. It ran as follows : 

"Your brother has shown me a letter from a Monsieur Andre, 
which I should have disdained to answer if it had not contained 
false allegations, which it is fit that I should refute. A lady in 
whom I take the {greatest interest wished to see the carrousel of 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 187 

Saumur, accompanied by a lady friend of hers and two persons 
of my household. From Saumur she went to Tours, and fearing 
that she might not be able to find lodgings there, she asked me to 
do whatever might be necessary to procure her accommodation. 
On arriving at Tours, I said to one of the Prefecture Councillors 
that he would oblige me by finding rooms for Count Baciocchi and 
some ladies of his acquaintance. It seems that they were led by 
chance and their evil star to Monsieur Andre's house, where, I 
know not why, it was imagined that one of the ladies was named 
Baciocchi. Never did the lady in question assume that name. If 
an error occurred it was perpetrated by strangers, against my own 
desire and the lady's also. I should, however, like to know why 
Monsieur Andre, without taking the trouble to ascertain the truth, 
seeks to make me responsible for the selection of his house and the 
wrongful attribution of a name ? When a householder makes it his 
first care to peer into the past life of a person he receives, in order 
to cry her down — is that a noble way of practising hospitality 1 
How many women, a hundred times less pure, a hundred times less 
devoted than the one who lodged at Monsieur Andre's, would have 
been received by him with all possible honour if they had happened 
to have at their disposal a husband's name to cast over their guilty 
intrigues ! I detest that pedantic rigorism which ill-conceals a dry 
heart — a heart indulgent for self but inexorable towards others. 
True religion is not intolerant, it does not try to stir up a tempest 
in a glass of water, it does not make much ado about nothing, and 
turn a mere accident or excusable mistake into a positive crime. 

"Monsieur Andre, who is, I am told, a Puritan, has not yet 
meditated sufficiently on that passage in the Gospel where Christ, 
addressing people possessed of souls as uncharitable as Monsieur 
Andre's, says to them, respecting the woman whom they wish to 
stone : ' Let him who is without sin,' etc. May Monsieur Andre 
put that precept into practice ! For my part, I bring charges 
against nobody, and I own that I am guilty of seeking in illegitimate 
bonds the affection which my heart requires. As, however, my 
position has hitherto prevented me from marrying, and as, amid 
all the cares of government, I possess, alas ! in my native country, 
from which I was so long absent, neither intimate friends, nor ties 
of childhood, nor relatives to give me the joys of family life, I may 
well be forgiven, I think, for an affection which harms nobody and 
which I do not seek to make conspicuous. To return to Monsieur 
Andre, if, as he declares, he believes that his house has been defiled 
by the presence of an unmarried woman, I beg you to let him know 
that, on my side, I deeply regret that a person of such pure devotion 



188 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

and high character should have alighted by chance at a house, 
where, under the mask of religion, there reigns only a stiff and 
ostentatious virtue, devoid of Christian charity. You may put my 
letter to such use as you please." * 

With that missive,''sajs Odilon-Barrot, there came an order 
from the Prince-President to send a copy of it to M. Andre. 
But the Prime Minister wisely refrained from doing so, and the 
affair blew over. 

To what degree affection for Napoleon and to what degree 
far-seeing ambition influenced Miss Howard, on the various 
occasions when she assisted him financially, is a difficult question 
to determine. Persons of her condition are seldom disinterested, 
however ; and in the demands Avhich Miss Howard made after 
her lover had become master of France, it seems certain that 
she was not merely claiming her due, but giving rein at last to 
a grasping nature, previously held in check. However consider- 
able may have been the wealth she had acquired in England, 
the amount of money ultimately paid to her by Napoleon was 
so enormous that, besides embracing the reimbursement of her 
advances, it obviously included a very lavish indemnity. More- 
over, whatever may have been her original motives in assisting 
Napoleon, it is certain that after the success of the Coup d'Etat 
she aspired to play the part of a Pompadour or a Dubarry. 
She clung to Napoleon tenaciously, unwilling to allow him out 
of her sight, and when he took up his residence at the Chateau 
of St. Cloud during the months preceding the proclamation of 
the Empire, she insisted on quarters being found for her there 
in spite of the damaging, scandalous talk to which her presence 
might give rise. We know, by the admissions of Count Fleury 
in his " Memoirs," that she was secretly lodged in some of the 
smaller ground-floor rooms, whence she kept watch upon all that 
occurred. She was also exacting in other respects, again 
following Napoleon on his journeys into the provinces, demand- 
ing a special and conspicuous place for her carriage at reviews 
and other ceremonies, and generally striving to assume the 
position of a recognized favourite. All this, be it noted, 
occurred at the time when Napoleon was feeling more and 

♦ IIo^YeYer strange the letter may seem, its authenticity is unquestionable, 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 189 

more attracted towards Mile, de Montijo. At Compiegne and 
at Fontainebleau the Prince was surrounded by far too many 
guests, and notably by too many ladies of recognized position, 
for Miss Howard's presence to be possible there. Nevertheless, 
she watched and waited, never abandoning her hopes. 

She made, perhaps, her boldest bid for recognition as 
imperial favourite at one of the first entertainments given at 
the Tuileries after the Coup d'Etat. In the very midst of the 
reception she suddenly entered the palace, exquisitely dressed, 
and attracting general attention by her remarkable beauty. 
For the prosecution of her enterprise she had found confederates 
among her lover's entourage. Colonel Baron de Seville * entered 
with her, giving her his arm, and behind the pair walked Count 
Baciocchi with a matronly person, to whom had been assigned 
the part played by the Countess de Beam when La Dubarry 
was presented at the Court of Louis XV. A good many people 
who did not know Miss Howard thought she Avas some fine 
lady who had just arrived from London, but those of the 
President's set who knew her and who were opposed to her 
influence took alarm at the demonstration, rightly opining that 
the bold Englishwoman might become very dangerous if her 
proceedings were not promptly checked. Among the serious 
politicians and the diplomatists present at the gathering, the 
impression was extremely bad, as the Prefect of Police indicated 
in a special report which he boldly addressed to Napoleon on 
the subject. 

When the latter had ultimately made up his mind to marry 
Mile, de Montijo, the difficult task of restraining and pacifying 
Miss Howard was assigned to the genial and resourceful 
Mocquard. It would be curious to know exactly how he 
accomplished that duty. We are only acquainted with the 
bare facts — that he contrived to lure Miss Howard to Le 
Havre, to prevent her from seeing the newspapers and to keep 
her in ignorance of what was passing in Paris until intervention 
on her part could be of no avail. True, after storming and 
raving, and fainting and weeping, she might still have attempted 
some desperate but futile effort, had she not been told that if 
she evinced any disposition to perpetrate an act of folly, she 

* See ante, p. 48. 



190 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

would be immediately taken down to the port and placed on 
board a ship sailing for America. At last, then, she gave in, 
accepting the compensation which was tendered to her for the 
loss of the position she had aspired to fill. 

This compensation comprised, in the first place, the hand- 
some chateau and estate of Beauregard on the road from La 
Celle St. Cloud to Versailles. The chateau had originally. been 
built by the famous Pere Lachaise, confessor to Louis X.IV., 
whose name has been perpetuated by the most important of 
all the Parisian cemeteries. It is said too, that Beauregard 
was the meeting-place of many of the artistic celebrities of le 
grand siecle, and that the masterpieces of Lully and Rameau 
were first performed there. At the close of the eighteenth 
century the chateau was acquired by Count d'Artois — afterwards 
Charles X. — and his sons, the Dukes d"'Angouleme and de 
Berry, spent their childhood there. In purchasing Beauregard 
and presenting it to Miss Howard, Napoleon III., as we know 
by a memorandum in his own handwriting, had imagined that 
the outlay " would be at the utmost =£'20,000 ; " but she rebuilt 
and enlarged the chateau to a considerable extent, and the 
Emperor appears to have taken all the expense on his shoulders. 
Together with the estate, he presented his ex-mistress, as pre- 
viously mentioned, with the title of Countess de Beauregard — 
a proceeding which offended an existing Beauregard family, 
with the result that although no change was made respecting 
Miss Howard personally, a different title, that of Count de 
Bechevet, was ultimately conferred on her son, Martin Con- 
stantine, the question of whose paternity is so doubtful.* 

As for the pecuniary payments made to Miss Howard, we 
learn from the Emperor's memorandum, just referred to, that, 
apart from the cost of Beauregard, he had originally intended 

* In connection with, that matter, it may be observed that Miss Howard's 
protector at the time when Napoleon made her acquaintance was Major 
Mount] oy Martyn ; that her son received the Christian name of Martin, and 
that her grandson was christened Richard Martyn. It is quite possible, then, 
that the Count de Bechevet was not Napoleon's son, however general the 
belief that he was — a belief strengthened by the bestowal of a title on him. 
That title, however, was not granted until 1865, and may merely have been a 
misinterpreted act of favour. Though Napoleon, as some have asserted, may 
have known Miss Howard from 1840 onward, the actual intrigue may not 
have begun till after his release from Ham. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 191 

to present her with c£'120,000. Inclusive, however, of the 
c£'40,000 paid with respect to the estate of Civita Nuova, she 
had already received at the beginning of 1855 no less than 
=£'218,000, and, like Oliver Twist, she wanted more. In January, 
1855, she wrote to M. Mocquard as follows : — * 

"My very dear Friend, 

"We are to-day the 24th of January, and I perceive 
with grief that the engagements entered into with me are not 
performed (when I have doubts I feel hurt and I ought not to be 
left in doubt). As a matter of fact I believed and still believe that 
it is a mistake ; but why make me suffer 1 If things are to be like 
this I should have done better if I had kept the six millions instead 
of three million five hundred thousand francs, which, at my request, 
were to have been paid by the end of the year 1853, and it was for 
this [?] that I begged the Emperor to tear up the first amount 
(2,500,000 francs). My heart bleeds at having to write this, and 
if my marriage contract were not drawn up as it is, and if I had 
not a child, I should not make this application which has become a 
duty. I rely on you to put an end to all this sufiering. The 
Emperor has too good a heart to leave a woman whom he tenderly 
loved in a false position, such as he would not like to be in himself. 
You know my position, you are my guardian [tuteur] and it is with 
a twofold claim on you that I apply to you. I made a mistake in 
writing to his Majesty the other day. In one of his letters dated 
May, be says, ' I will give Giles f paper for the three million five 
hundred thousand francs [£140,000] to-morrow.' The only thing 
to be done, then, is to calculate the payments at the rate of 50,000 
from June 1, 1853, and 50,000 from January to October. I hope 
to God there will be no further question of money between me and 
him for whom my heart has very different feelings. I kiss you 
tenderly and love you in like way, 

" Your affectionate, 

" E. H. DE B. 

" I implore you not to leave this letter, you may read it if you 
like to his Majesty, and burn it directly afterwards. I saw Mme. 
Mocquard on Monday at 4 o'clock, she was very poorly." 

* The letter is written in very faulty French, and the meaning of one or 
two sentences is extremely obscure. The translation we give is, however, as 
close as possible. The French text will be found in the " Papiers et Corre-' 
spondance de la Famille Imperiale," issued by the Government of National 
Defence, in 1870-71. 

t A banker, through whom many payments were made to Miss Howard. 



102 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

The allusion to a marriage contract which will have been 
noticed in that letter needs explanation. After Mocquard had 
made the first arrangements with Miss Howard, she was per- 
suaded to travel for a time, and on going to Italy she there met 
a young Englishman, named Clarence Trelawny, who held an 
officer's commission in the Austrian Hussars, and whom she 
married at Florence on May 16, 1854. The union appears to 
have been a very unhappy one, and a divorce took place in 
February, 1865. 

It would appear that Miss Howard never really forgave 
Napoleon for deserting her, or the Empress Eugenie for sup- 
planting her in his affections. We had some acquaintance 
several years ago with an Englishman named Arthur Savile 
Grant (the illegitimate son of an ex-diplomatist domiciled in 
Paris) who invented the newspaper kiosks of the boulevards, 
from which he derived a handsome income, and who knew Miss 
Howard very well in her last days, when he was often a guest 
at Beauregard. According to this Mr. Grant the lady was 
occasionally seized with fits of fury, and would then indulge 
in extraordinary language respecting the Emperor and his 
entourage, several members of which she bitterly denounced for 
their old-time intrigues against her. Grant further asserted 
that if such large sums were paid by Napoleon to his ex-mistress, 
it was because she at one time detained a number of documents 
damaging for his reputation. She had often been heard to 
declare that the Palace Police had on one occasion ransacked 
her residence and carried off every scrap of paper they could 
lay their hands upon. We do not vouch for that story, but it 
is curious that the novelist Emile Gaboriau should have intro- 
duced such an episode into his novel " La Degringolade," even 
as he included in it the St. Arnaud-Cornemuse duel, of which 
we spoke in a former chapter. Rumours of t^e seizure of the 
lady's papers must therefore have been current. 

After remaining in comparative retirement for some years, 
Miss Howard was suddenly seized with a desire to show herself 
once more to the Parisians, and particularly to the Emperor 
and Empress. During the seasons of 1864-65, she frequently 
appeared in the Champs Ely sees and the Bois de Boulogne, 
driving a pair of superb bays, and manoeuvring in such a fashion 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 193 

as to meet their Majesties' equipage as often as possible and 
stare at them. Again, at theatrical performances, she would 
turn her glasses with annoying persistency on the imperial box, 
and it was even said that she received a caution on the subject. 
But she was near her end. On August 19, 1865, she passed 
away at the chateau of Beauregard, and although there were 
people ready to assert that her death could not have been due 
to natural causes, there does not seem to have been the 'slightest 
reason — excepting enmity of the Empire — for any suspicion of 
foul play. In 1867 Miss Howard's son, the Count de Bechevet, 
married a Mile, de Csuzy, of a noble Hungarian house, by 
whom he had two daughters and the son we have previously 
mentioned. 

Although Napoleon III. undoubtedly engaged in various 
intrigues subsequent to his marriage, some of the stories 
current on the subject must only be accepted with the pro- 
verbial grains of salt. Certain anecdotes are so nonsensical, 
that one wonders how they can ever have obtained credence. 
Valuable as may be in some respects the " Memoirs of Count 
Horace de Viel Castel," which created such a sensation on 
their first appearance some years ago, they are studded with 
scandalous tittle-tattle, resting at times on very slight, and 
at others on no foundation whatever. For people of any 
acumen the editor of the "Memoirs" gave the key to them 
when he remarked in his introduction, that although Viel 
Castel was a man fit for the highest posts, he had been con- 
fined to his duties in connection with the national museums. 
In other words, he was a disappointed and embittered man, 
often far too ready to make a note of anything, however 
improbable, that tended to discredit the regime on which he 
lived. V\'^e came in contact with him more than once, and 
have no doubt of the accuracy of that estimate. Had Viel 
Castel been such a high-minded personage as he desired others 
to think, and had he conscientiously believed things to be as 
bad as he asserted in his " Memoirs," he would have severed his 
connection with the Empire after a very brief experience. But 
he did no such thing. Down to the last years he partook 
complacently of the hospitality of the Tuileries, never missed 
an autumn at Compiegne, nor indeed any opportunity to mix 

a 



194 THE COUIIT OF THE TUILERIES 

as a boon companion with those for whom he was preparing a 
pillory in his " Memoirs."" Such a man undoubtedly becomes 
despicable when he puts on pretensions to personal virtue. 
Besides, Viel Castel, though a married man with children, 
lived with another woman by whom he had offspring, as was 
proved during the litigation to which the publication of the 
" Memoirs " gave rise. 

There is also another point to be considered. A good 
many of the more remarkable stories related by Viel Castel 
are given as emanating, either at first or at second hand, from 
the Princess Mathilde, with whom he was certainly on terms 
of close acquaintanceship. So were others; and it was very 
generally known that whatever might be the Princess's own 
faults — she was too true a Bonaparte to have none — and what- 
ever might be her knowledge of the faults of her relatives, she 
was not given to talking of them. A certain ease and freedom 
reigned in her circle ; men like Goncourt and Gautier and 
Flaubert would not have belonged to it had the position been 
otherwise ; but there was a line which nobody was allowed to 
cross. No remarks reflecting on the morals of the imperial 
house were tolerated; even political criticism of some action 
of the Emperor's, or perhaps of Prince Napoleon's, had to be 
kept within bounds. If ever too outspoken, too personal, a 
remark was heard, the Princess bristled up. " I will not allow 
my relations to be attacked," she Avould say; and the incautious 
speaker had to apologize immediately. Yet, according to Viel 
Castel, she was given to narrating enormities ! To her is 
assigned the story of a certain incident in a railway train, in 
which the Emperor's name is linked with that of a lady of 
the Court; and it is she, again, who is said to repeat to a 
friend Napoleon's saying about the lady of the ground floor 
whom he wished to get rid of, the lady of the first floor who, 
although very beautiful, bored him by her insignificance and 
insipidity, and the lady of the second floor who, consumed by 
her passion, was always running after him. That anecdote has 
been repeated a thousand times in books, magazines, and 
newspapers all the world over. It may have reflected the 
Emperor's sentiments, but Viel Castel by alleging that it was 
repeated by the Princess Mathilde, the last woman in the 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 195 

world to retail such a saying, imposes a severe strain on the 
faith of readers possessed of any sense and knowledge. 

Nevertheless, whatever falsity and exaggeration may be 
found in the pages either of Viel Castel or of similar writers, 
it is certain that Napoleon was an unfaithful husband. One 
may regard as mere odious scandal two alleged intrigues of 
his, which are frequently referred to by the memoir writers — 
one with a person of obscure origin, resulting, it is said, in the 
birth of a daughter who married a Count of the old noblesse, 
and the other an intrigue with the unmarried daughter of a 
famous functionary of the Empire, resulting, it was pretended, 
in the birth of a son in January, 1865. Whatever assertions 
may have been made respecting those affairs, they have never 
been substantiated by the slightest authentic evidence. Con- 
nected with the second case, however, there is a true story 
which may be repeated. At a ball given at the Tuileries a 
lady guest of that very undesirable scandal-loving type which 
was certainly well represented under the Empire, related that 
the functionary's daughter in question had lately given birth 
to a child, adding that the accouchement had taken place less 
than a week previously at the residence of some friends of 
the narrator''s. It so happened that the Marchioness de 
Latour-Maubourg, one of the Empress''s ladies-in-waiting, was 
present and heard the story, at the conclusion of which she 
remarked that it was of a nature to ruin the young lady's 
reputation, and that one ought to be quite certain of one's 
facts before repeating it. The other retorted that the tale 
was true, whereupon Mme. de Latour-Maubourg exclaimed : 
" Then I am vastly astonished — for there is the young lady in 
question, dancing ! " The scandalmonger was overwhelmed with 
confusion, and a few minutes afterwards (Mme. de Latour- 
Maubourg having hurried away to inform the Empress of the 
incident) a chamberlain approached her, and said : " Madam, 
your carriage is waiting." On the morrow her name was struck 
off the list of those received at the Tuileries. 

There are reasons for thinking that some truth may 
attach to one or another of the various stories respecting 
the Emperor's alleged gallantries with ladies of the Court, 
but in these cases again there is a lack of conclusive evidence. 



196 THE COURT OF THE TUlLEtllES 

and more than once appearances may have been deceptive. 
In one instance the lady named by the anecdotiers certainly 
enjoyed high favour, and we have an independent witness. 
Lord Malmesbury, drawing very unfavourable conclusions from 
what he saw. But, on the other hand, we find various writers, 
including even Viel Castel, who repeated all the rumours 
against the lady in question, relating that when she heard she 
was accused by the Court of being the Emperor"'s mistress, she 
hurried to the Empress to protest against the charge, and that 
the Empress believed and comforted her. This lady retained 
her position at the Tuileries for some years afterwards, and in 
that connection it should be remembered that the Empress 
Eugenie was no Catherine of Braganza willing to tolerate 
the presence of a Lady Castlemaine beside her. Whatever 
intrigues occurred at the palace were carried on there without 
her knowledge. 

When the papers found at the Tuileries were published by 
the Government of National Defence in 1870, no little ado 
was made about a certain invoice for sweetmeats, which was 
supposed to prove that the Emperor had employed his aides- 
de-camp and orderlies to carry honhons to his favourites. This 
invoice was as follows : — 

" Gouache, Confectioner, Purveyor to H.M. the Empekoe. 

" Paris, May 20, 1858. 
" Supplied to H.M. the Emperor : 

" Twelve dozen half-boxes of dragees, at 18 frs. — 216 frs. 
" Porwarded to General de Failly, 20 Rue de Ponthieu. 

"Paid, L. Gouache." 

Below the bill was a memorandum in pencil recapitulating 
other accounts for similar sweetmeats, the total amount paid 
to Gouache being .£51 8*. lOd. So wild were the passions of 
the time when this "document" was brought to light, that 
nobody paused to reflect that dragees, otherwise sugared 
almonds, were sweets chiefly associated in France with christen- 
ings, that each half-box supplied by Gouache represented the 
huge sum of 1*. 2d., and that it was nonsensical to imagine 
that M. de Failly, M. de Galliffet, and the other aides-de-camp 
or orderlies had been in the habit of taking one-and-twopenny 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 197 

packets of sugared almonds to the Countess de Castiglione, 
Mile. Bellanger, and the other ladies on whom their imperial 
master deigned to smile ! The memorandum at the foot of the 
invoice indicated that 72 dozen, that is 864 half-boxes of 
dragees had been supplied in all, over a period of about twelve 
months. We are not able to say with certainty for what purpose 
so large a number was required, but we have a suspicion, and 
perhaps a shrewd one, on the subject. After the Emperor 
and Empress had become sponsors to all the children born 
on the same day as the Imperial Prince in 1856, fervent 
imperialists often applied to them to act likewise in other 
instances ; and we think it quite possible that the dragees were 
ordered of Gouache for distribution at the christenings of the 
offspring of members of the Court, officials, and other adherents. 
In any case we decline to believe that those 864 half-boxes of 
cheap sweets Avere procured to regale the imperial favourites. 

Let us now pass to the well-authenticated cases of conjugal 
infidelity on the part of the Emperor, the cases of the two 
women we have just mentioned. Countess Virginia Verasis di 
Castiglione and Mile. Marguerite Bellanger. We referred to 
the Countess in a previous chapter,* pointing out what we 
believe to have been her real motive in coming to France — that 
is, a desire to captivate the Emperor and secure some such 
position as that to which Miss Howard had vainly aspired. 
We have mentioned also that in the opinion of most of those 
who met the Countess she was not fit for the role she wished to 
play, by reason of her lack of intellectual ability. Some have 
urged that she reserved her wit for rintimitS, but we do not 
believe that she was a woman to hide her wit (if she had any) 
from the public any more than she hid her beauty. However, 
Count Fleury, the Emperor's confidant in most of his love affairs, 
held a somewhat different view, as we shall see. In coming to 
Paris from Florence the Countess, apart from the question of 
any diplomatic introduction, was assured of an entree into high 
society by the friendship existing between the Oldoini family, 
to which she belonged by birth, and the Riccis, of whom the 
Countess Walewska was one. It was under the wing of the 
Walewskis that the Castigliones first made their appearance in 

* See miUt P- 11Q< 



198 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Parisian drawing-rooms. That was late in 1855 or early in 
1 856, the Countess then being about twenty years of age.* In 
March of the latter year Marshal de Castellane was introduced 
to her at the house of one of his relatives, and while recognizing 
her beauty he was greatly disappointed by what he regarded as 
her lack of esprit. Even her beauty did not pass unchallenged. 
In November, 1857, she was a guest at Compiegne at the same 
time as the Duchess of Manchester, now Duchess of Devonshire, 
by whose radiant charm she was altogether eclipsed. The 
Marchioness de Contades, referring to the Duchess in a letter to 
Marshal de Castellane, remarked : " She is as beautiful as day- 
light, she quite surpasses Mme. de Castiglione . . . she has a 
profile like an antique cameo, and it is quite a treat to look 
at her." 

Nevertheless, in her own particular style, the Countess 
Virginia remained unexcelled. Viel Castel, Avhom one may 
follow when, instead of collecting miscellaneous tittle-tattle, he 
describes what he actually witnessed, gives a lively account of 
the sensation the Countess created at a fancy-dress ball given 
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs f in February, 1857. Her 
costume, devised in part according to the Louis XV. style and 
in part according to the fashions of the day, was that of " Queen 
of Hearts " — the hearts being outlined by a number of gold 
chains which wound around her, and the sight of which inspired 
some simple-minded folk with much admiration for her talent 
in being able to array herself in such a costly fashion, when, 
having already squandered the fine fortune of her infatuated 
husband, she had but a paltry income of about .£'600 a year. 
Dressed as we have said, she wore her hair loose, streaming over 
her neck and shoulders. Her corsage was reduced to the 
simplest expression, and it was evident to all beholders that she 
scorned to wear anything so commonplace as a corset. She 
was extremely proud of her beauty, and, as Viel Castel says, only 
veiled it so far as was necessary to obtain admittance to a 
drawing-room. At subsequent entertainments of the period 

* She was only fifteen when she married. She already had a son at the 
time of her arrival in France. 

t Not at the Tuileries, as some accounts have it. Many legends have 
sprung up respecting Mme. de Castiglione, but few are really based on fact. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 199 

she surpassed her previous performances by appearing in ahnost 
transparent draperies, once as a Roman lady of the Decline, 
and later as the Salammbo immortalized by Flaubert. 

It was no difficult task for the Countess to fascinate the 
Emperor, but she altogether failed in her endeavours to attain 
the position of a grande viaitresse. The liaison lasted about a 
year — 1857 — and as it was never renewed, those writers who, 
regardless of dates, have tried to connect the Emperor'^s passion 
for the Countess with the Empress's journey to Scotland in 
1860 have blundered egregiously. At the time of Mme. de 
Castiglione\s arrival in France her means, as already indicated, 
v/ere very slender. Her first residence (with her husband) was 
a small flat situated, curiously enough, in the Rue Castiglione, 
near the Place Vendome. She could not receive the Emperor 
there, and at the outset of the liaisoti a small house was taken 
in the Rue de la Pompe at Passy. Thanks to Napoleon''s 
liberality, the Countess was afterwards able to install herself in 
the Rue Montaigne, where, as mentioned in a previous chapter, 
Tibaldi and his confederates proposed to waylay and assassinate 
the Emperor during the summer of 1857.* 

It was not, however, fear for his personal safety that induced 
the latter to break off the connection. Whether he gave 
utterance or not to the alleged saying about his lady friends of 
the ground floor, first floor, and second floor, the account of the 
one who, although very beautiful, bored him by her insignificance 
and insipidity would seem to have been extremely well suited to 
Mme. de Castiglione. Still we must not forget Count Fleury's 
view of the matter, and as he is well entitled to a hearing, let 
us give it to him. He contends, then, in his " Souvenirs " that 
whatever some may have thought, the Countess was in reality 
no fool, and he ascribes her failure to retain any mastery over 
the Emperor to another cause — her absolute lack of charm. 
While Viel Castel christens her Aspasia, Fleury calls her a 
female Narcissus, always in adoration before her own beauty, 
lacking both suppleness and gentleness of disposition, "ambitious 
without grace and haughty without reason " — in such wise that 
she soon Avearied the man whom she hoped to hold. " Infatuated 
with herself," Fleury continues, "and always draped a T antique, 

* See ante, p. 111. 



200 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

strange in both her person and her manners, she made her 
appearance at the assemblies of the time Hke a goddess just 
descended from the clouds. She bade her husband lead her to 
some secluded part of the room, where she allowed herself to be 
admired as if she were a reliquary . . . boldly facing every 
glance and never allowing the icy calmness of her demeanour to 
be in the slightest degree disturbed by the indiscreet admiration 
which she inspired. She scarcely ever spoke to women.* Just 
a few admirers were accorded the alms of a smile, a word, or a 
return bow. Like some great artiste who has just sung in an 
assembly where she knows nobody, she waited patiently and 
with indifference until the master and mistress of the house 
came to compliment her. Directly the Emperor and Empress 
drew near her physiognomy became transformed. Her mouth, 
hitherto so expressive of disdain, opened with a smile, disclosing 
her admirable teeth, her eyes glittered, expressing her feeling of 
triumph, her gratified vanity. To everybody else she seemed 
to say : ' I am not here for you ; I am of a superior essence to 
you. I know but the sovereigns.' That style of behaviour, 
which at the utmost would only be acceptable in a Sultan''s 
harem, was not calculated to win her either sympathy or 

friends.'^ t 

Fleury next relates that during a stay at Compiegne the 
Countess had a nasty fall among the ruins of the then unrestored 
castle of Pierrefonds, with the result that she dislocated a wrist. 
A doctor attended her, but when the question arose of escorting 
her back to the chateau of Compiegne nobody was willing to 
undertake the duty, and he, Fleury, had to intervene and place 
her in a char-a-hancs under the protection of two footmen. 

When the Countess's liaison with the Emperor ceased (early, 
we think, in 1858) she left Paris, but she was there again after 
the Solferino-Magenta campaign; and Madame Carette, the 
Empress's reader, relates that at one of the last entertainments 
given in I860 by old Prince Jerome at the Palais Royal, she 
arrived there about one o'clock in the morning, just as the 

* She had reason to dislike the ladies of the Imperial Court, for they did 
not hide their dislike of her. A few so far forgot themselves as to send her 
insulting anonymous letters, which embittered her greatly. 

t Count Fleury's " Souvenirs," vol. i. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 201 

Emperor and Empress were leaving. They met on the stairs. 
" You arrive very late, Madame la Comtesse," Napoleon said to 
her. " It is you, Sire, who leave very early," she retorted, 
passing on and entering the rooms with her usual scornful air. 
There was, perhaps, in her retort, a touch of the bravado of a 
woman who has played her cards and lost the game, but is 
resolved that none shall think her downhearted.* 

Nevertheless, she retired for a while to a convent, either by 
way of doing penance for her sins or in imitation of the course 
taken by the tearful La Valliere. As, however, the Emperor 
was not Louis XIV., he refrained from attempting to lure the 
fair penitent from her cell. She emerged from it of her own 
accord. Time passed, and every now and again she made a 
sudden brief appearance in society. In 1865, when Prince, 
later King, Humbert of Italy visited the French Court at St. 
Cloud, Mme. de Castiglione was present at a lunch there, it 
being requisite to invite her, as her husband was in attendance 
on the Prince. But eventually she received her conge. The 
occasion was a great fancy ball at the Tuileries, at which the 
Empress appeared as Marie Antoinette, her costume in red 
velvet being copied from that worn by the Queen in one of the 
portraits by Mme. Vigee-Lebrun. For some time past Mme. 
de Castiglione had not appeared at Court, and when she 
arrived on this occasion it Avas in black, in fact, in widow's 
garb, as Marie de* Medici. We cannot say whether, as some 
supposed, this was resented as an allusion to her widowhood 
with respect to the Emperor. According to one account, she 
had received no invitation to that particular fete. In any case, 
she had scarcely entered the palace when a chamberlain appeared, 
and, offering her his arm, conducted her back to her carriage. 

It should be added that when this occurred all sorts of 
scandalous rumours had been for a considerable time associated 
with her name. Paris had talked of her in connection notably 
with Count Nieuwerkerke, whose position with regard to 

* Mme, Carette's anecdote has been repeated in most of the works on the 
men and women of the Second Empire, and it may be thought superfluous on 
our part to give it here. But we do not wish to be unfair to la belle Comtesse, 
and her retort to the Emperor being one of her few recorded attempts at wit, 
we have thought it as well to reproduce it yet again. 



202 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Princess Mathilde was a secret for nobody. An old beau as 
well as a clever man, Nieuwerkerke had been flattered, it seems, 
by the Countess's sudden partiality for him, but it does not 
appear that he actually compromised himself. There had also 
been, however, an outrageous story about an eccentric English 
peer and the Countess, and although that might be untrue, 
there could be no doubt of her liaison with the elderly Charles 
Laffitte, the father of the Marchioness de Galliffet. Facilis 
descensus Avei-ni. The beautiful Countess had fallen from an 
empire to a banker's money bag ! . . . All that need be added 
is that Mme. de Castiglione lost in turn both her husband and 
her son, — the first being killed in 1867 by a fall from his horse 
while he was escorting Prince Humbert,* the second dying in 
his twentieth year — and that after a good many of those ups 
and downs that occur in the life of an adventuress, this strange, 
almost enigmatical, woman spent her last years in melancholy 
seclusion in a little flat on the Place Vendome, the shutters of 
which were always kept closed. It was even said that the 
mirrors of the rooms were covered, in order that she might 
not see the wreck of her once marvellous beauty. Of Southern 
birth, she had matured precociously, and, as happens so often 
in such cases, she became betimes an old woman in appearance. 
She died in 1899.t 

Napoleon's liaison with Marguerite Bellanger was of much 
later date than the Castiglione affair, having begun in 1863 or 
1864. This person's real name was Justine Marie Leboeuf, and 
she was a native of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where she was born in 
1838. Of modest parentage, and earning her living as a.femme 
de chambre, she ran away to Paris with a commercial traveller, 
who deserted her there. An actor of the Ambigu Theatre 
secured for her, however, an engagement as Jigurante at the 
little Theatre Beaumarchais, and she subsequently obtained 

* The fatality occurred on the day following the Prince's marriage with 
the present Dowager-Queen Margherita of Italy, and cast gloom over the 
wedding festivities. 

t Those interested in Mme. de Castiglione cannot do better than read the 
account of her in M. F. Loli^e's " Femmes du Second Empire." It is 
compiled from many sources, and embodies some very good — if often very 
doubtful— stories about her. M. Loli^e's view of her is not the same as ours, 
to which, however, we adhere. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 203 

employment in a similar capacity at the Opera-house. Being 
clever, she soon rose in her profession, and appeared in various 
pieces at the Folies Dramatiques as an ingenue. Not content, 
however, with playing that kind of role on the stage, she 
attempted it in real life, and, for a time, not unsuccessfully, 
so far as Napoleon HI. was concerned.* 

There is no truth in a remarkable account of her which 
appeared in the French press several years ago, and according 
to which her mother was a younger sister of Heindereich, 
the famous Paris headsman, who guillotined the odious 
Troppmann, Dr. Lapommerais, and so many others. A great 
many genealogical particulars respecting the Heindereichs were 
printed in support of that theory, but it rested on the assump- 
tion that Bellanger was this person's real name, which it was 
not. The Emperor met her during a stay at Plombieres, or 
it may have been Vichy, and on his return to Paris he took a 
house for her. No. 27, in the Rue des Vignes at Passy. There, 
in 1864, she gave birth to a son, who received the Christian 
names of Charles Jules, and on whom Napoleon bestowed the 
chateau and estate of Monchy (not Mouchy, as so many have 
said) at Liancourt-Rantigny, in the department of the Oise, at 
no very great distance from Compiegne. In reality the child 
was not the Emperor''s. The latter had been imposed upon, 
as is conclusively shown by two letters, which were found among 
his private papers at the Tuileries in 1870. They were together 
in an envelope, bearing the imperial monogram and the super- 
scription in Napoleon's handwriting : " Letters to be kept." In 
one of them, addressed to M. Devienne, First President of the 
Court of Cassation, the supreme tribunal of France, Mile. 
Bellanger openly admitted that she had deceived the Emperor 
with respect to the child referred to ; while the other missive, 
addressed to Napoleon himself, ran as follows : — 

"Cher Seigneur [Dear Lord], 

" I have not written to you since my departure, fearing 
lest I should annoy you, but after Monsieur Devienne's visit, I 

* She was tall, with an attractive figure and graceful carriage. She had 
light, smooth hair, and an oval face, with somewhat irregular features. The 
eyes had a candid expression, suited to the parts she played. The mouth, 
however, was somewhat large and sensual. 



204 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

think it my duty to do so, first to implore you not to despise me, 
for without your esteem I do not know what would become of me, 
and secondly to beg your pardon. I was guilty, it is true, but I 
assure you that I had my doubts. Tell me, cher Seigneur, if there 
is a means by which I may redeem my fault 1 I shall recoil from 
nothing. If a whole life of devotion can restore to me your esteem, 
mine belongs to you, and there is no sacrifice you may ask that I 
am not ready to make. If it be necessary for your quietude that 
I should exile myself and go abroad, say but the word, and I will 
start. My heart is so full of gratitude for all you have done for 
me that to suffer for you would be happiness still. Thus, the only 
thing that, in any case, I do not wish you to doubt is the sincerity 
and depth of my love for you. I beg you therefore to write me a 
few lines to tell me that you forgive me. My address is : Mme. 
Bellanger, Rue de Launay, Commune of Vilbernier, near Saumur. 
Awaiting your reply, cher Seigneur, receive the farewell of your all 
devoted, but most unhappy 

" Marguerite." '^ 

The discovery of this correspondence after the Revolution 
of 1870 caused the Government of National Defence to issue 
a decree ordering the prosecution of M. Devienne before the 
Court of Cassation, sitting as a Chamber of Discipline, for 
having seriously compromised the dignity of the magistracy in 
scandalous negotiations, he having been summoned to give 
explanations but having failed to comply with the request, 
besides absenting himself from Paris at the hour of the national 
peril, although he was the head of the first judicial body of the 
State.f This decree was signed by Emmanuel Arago as delegate 
of the Minister of Justice. 

M. Devienne, it may be explained, had fled to Brussels at 
the fall of the Empire, and from that city he wrote first to 
M. Cremieux, Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice, who 
had taken up his quarters at Tours with other members of 
the new Republican Government, and secondly to Emmanuel 
Arago who had remained in the capital. In his first letter 
M. Devienne declared that he should be the first to ask for a 
decision when it became possible. His explanations would be 

* From the " Papiers et Correspondance de la Famille Imp^riale," Paris 
Imprimerie Nationale, 1870. 

t The siege by the Gerraans was theo impending. 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 205 

neither long nor difficult, said he, and they would show that 
the allegations and imputations contained in the newspapers 
(there were many slanderous articles at the time) were absolutely 
erroneous. " I am certain,"" he added, " that I did not forget 
my dignity on an occasion when I undertook what I considered, 
and still consider, to have been a duty."" Again, in writing to 
Arago, Devienne protested that he had done nothing wrong : 
" When the situation of the country admits of free discussion 
in proper form I will prove that I did not compromise my 
dignity in negotiations of a scandalous character. ... I will 
prove that your police, your newspapers, and you yourself, 
carried away by delight at the opportunity of striking a 
political adversary, have blindly libelled me with respect to a 
matter which was very different from what you allege. You 
appeal to the law. I in my turn invoke it also, and far more 
energetically. The day of justice will come, and it is with 
impatience that I await it." 

It was only in July, 1871, after the insurrection of the Com- 
mune had been suppressed, that M. Devienne appeared before 
the Court over which he had so long presided. He then stated 
to the judges that if he had intervened in the affair of the 
relations of the Emperor Napoleon with Mile. Bellanger, he 
had done so at the express request of the Empress Eugenie, 
who, having discovered her husband's infidelity, was sorely 
afflicted by it and threatened to leave him. To prevent not 
only a public scandal but a complete rupture between husband 
and wife, he, Devienne, had inquired into the affair, with 
the result already known, and had obtained the dismissal 
{eloignement) of Mile. Bellanger. On July 21, 1871, the Court, 
having considered M. Devienne's statement and the proofs 
adduced in support of it, delivered judgment to the effect 
that he had been guilty of no misconduct, but that his action 
had been, on the contrary, a good and honourable one.* 

The result was that Devienne was reinstated in his position 
as First President of the Court, and held that post until his 
age compelled him to retire in March, 1877. When a First 
President retires it is usual for the authorities to confer on him 
the title of Honorary First President, but the Government of 
* See La Gazette des Tribunatix of the period. 



206 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

the time refused to do this in Devienne's case, far less, however, 
on account of his conduct in connection with the Bellanser 
affair than on account of the part he had played at Bordeaux at 
the time of the Coup d'Etat, when he had sat on one of the 
Mixed Commissions which expelled so many people from France 
without due trial. Marguerite Bellanger, let us add, survived 
until November 23, 1886, when she died at Dommartin in 
the department of the Somme. She became very pious and 
charitable in her last years, and bequeathed all she possessed for 
the benefit of the Church or of associations connected with it. 

It is well known that in 1864 and the earlier part of 1865 
the Emperor and Empress were by no means on good terms. 
Several of the latter''s intimates have described her as being 
very sad, deeply conscious of her husband's neglect. We do 
not think that there is any reason to doubt M. Devienne's 
statements to the Court of Cassation. They are of considerable 
importance, as they help to explain various things which occurred 
during the last years of the Empire. 

The Empress may certainly have been somewhat worried 
by the turn which events were taking politically, about the time 
Ave have mentioned. It is true that there was as yet no sign of 
the collapse of the hazardous Mexican expedition which she 
appears to have favoured. Maximilian of Austria entered 
Mexico city as Emperor in July, 1864, and the Tuileries, con- 
fronted by the glowing despatches of the French commanders, 
did not as yet imagine either that they would fail to impose the 
new regime on the Mexican people, or that this mushroom 
transatlantic Empire could at the utmost only last so long as 
the United States, then in the throes of the War of Secession, 
remained disunited. On the other hand, however, the new 
phase upon which the Roman question entered in the autumn 
of 1864 was of a nature to give the Empress anxiety. By a 
convention signed in September it was agreed that the French 
troops should quit Rome at the expiration of two years, and 
that the maintenance of the integrity of the Papal dominions 
should afterwards be entrusted to the Italian Government. 
That measure had raised the ire of Pius IX., who, early in 
December, and apparently in a spirit of revenge, issued an 
Encyclical Letter in which several of the chief principles, not 



THE EMPEROR AND HIS LOVE AFFAIRS 207 

only of modern civilization generally, but of the very organiza- 
tion of -France, were condemned as heretical. An angry contro- 
versy at once arose in the French press, and on January 1, 
1865, the Imperial Government notified the bishops that the 
publication of the Papal Encyclical was prohibited, as it con- 
tained propositions contrary to the Constitution of the Empire. 
Some thirty of the bishops protested against this prohibition, 
and the relations between the Government and the clergy 
became extremely strained. In that affair the Emperor was 
on one side and the Empress on the other — thus even in that 
respect some personal estrangement was inevitable, but the 
Emperor's private conduct about this period was certainly the 
chief cause of the trouble apparent to the whole Court. 

In our account of Napoleon's gallantries we have striven to 
express ourselves temperately. We have set down naught in 
malice, but have refrained from chronicling many scandalous 
rumours of the period, only giving particulars respecting those 
affairs which are thoroughly well authenticated. The Gordon, 
Howard, and Vergeot episodes were antecedent to the imperial 
marriage, and of them the Empress Eugenie could not complain. 
She was no mere child when she consented to link her destiny 
with that of Napoleon III. ; she must have known at least 
something of his past. Perhaps she imagined, as other women 
have done in similar situations, that her beauty and charm 
would suffice to keep her husband in the path of marital duty ; 
but she should have remembered that he belonged to a race 
devoid in certain respects of moral sense. That reminds us that 
we omitted to mention previously that while Napoleon III. had 
an illegitimate half-brother, Morny, on his mother's side, he 
also had another, the Count de Castelvecchio, on his father's. 
That little touch will serve to complete the picture. That 
the Emperor wronged his wife in the case of the Countess de 
Castiglione and that of Marguerite Bellanger is indisputable, 
and those instances alone would suffice to constitute serious 
grievances, even if there were no others, as there may have 
been, though, for lack of conclusive evidence, we have refrained 
from insisting on that side of the question. 

There Avas, we think, something of the nature of Louis XV. 
in Napoleon III. Like the V^^ell Beloved, he had his secret 



208 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

diplomacy ; like him he was partial to the perusal of police 
reports and the private correspondence of his entourage; like 
him, again, he was fond of women. To those who did not know 
the Emperor in that respect, it Avas a revelation to see him at 
some evening gathering — at Compiegne, for instance — walking 
slowly down a room between two long lines of radiant 
courtesying beauties. The right hand was raised in the 
familiar fashion to twirl the pointed moustache, the eyes 
glanced almost stealthily to right and left, momentarily 
glittering as every now and then they espied some vision 
of particularly attractive loveliness. Again and again the 
simile which that spectacle suggested to the mind was that 
of a Sultan passing his odalisques in review. Thus, even if 
the Emperor's actual lapses were far fewer than was rumoured, 
one could well understand such rumours arising, and spreading 
from the Court to the city, and thence through the world at 
large. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

Branches of tho House of Bonaparte and their Rank at Court — The Emperor's 
Civil Family — The Lucien Bonapartes — The Murats — Table of Allowances 
to the Imperial Family — Additional special Grants— Sums secured by 
various Branches — Baron Jerome David — Emoluments of the Jerome 
Bonapartes — The Bonaparte-Paterson Lawsuit — Prince Jerome's last 
Marriage — His Protest to Napoleon III. — Curious Letter from Prince 
Napoleon to Mr. Jerome (Paterson) Bonaparte — Jerome Bonaparte fils, 
Cassagnac and Rochefort — Relationship of the Jerome Bonapartes to the 
British Royal House — Prince Napoleon (Jerome) — His early career and 
Character — His Marriage with Princess Clotilde and their Home at the 
Palais Royal — The Prince's Love AfEairs — Edmond About's famous Sketch 
of him — His later career and his sons, Princes Victor and Louis — Princess 
Mathilde — Her Character, Marriage, and Entourage— Tho Head of the 
Murats— Prince Pierre Bonaparte. 

At the establishment of the Second Empire nearly all the 
branches of the Bonaparte family existing at the beginning 
of the century still numbered representatives. The line of 
Napoleon I. was, of course, extinct, but his brother Lucien, 
Prince of Canino, had left numerous descendants, one of whom 
was married to a still surviving daughter of Joseph, King 
of Spain. Further, Napoleon''s sister Elisa, sometime Grand 
Duchess of Tuscany, was represented by her daughter, the 
Princess Baciocchi, and there were several descendants of 
Caroline Bonaparte and her husband Murat, King of Naples. 
The great Emperor's brother. Prince Jerome, sometime King 
of Westphalia, was still alive, with a son and a daughter by 
Catherine of Wurtemberg, in addition to the offspring of his 
contested marriage with Miss Paterson of Baltimore. Finally, 
Napoleon III. himself represented the line of Louis King of 
Holland, 



210 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Failing direct male descent from Napoleon III. (and, later, 
from the Imperial Prince), the succession to the throne, as 
indicated in a previous chapter, was vested " in Prince Jerome 
and his direct, natural, and legitimate descendants, proceeding 
from his marriage with Princess Catherine of Wurtemberg by 
order of primogeniture, from male to male, and to the per- 
petual exclusion of women."'"' The Senatus Consultum and the 
Organic Decree of 1852 containing that provision were con- 
firmed by Clause 4 of the Constitution of May 21, 1870, and 
as a result of the stipulations. Prince Jerome, his son Napoleon, 
and his daughter Mathilde ranked as Imperial Highnesses, 
and, with the Empress and Imperial Prince, constituted 
what was strictly the Imperial Family. In 1855 the so-called 
*' Civil Family of the Emperor" was formed, it being provided 
that "the sons of the brothers and sisters of the Emperor 
Napoleon I., who do not belong to the Imperial Family, shall 
bear the titles of Prince and Highness {i.e. without the adjunc- 
tion of the word " Imperial "), together with their family name. 
At the second generation only the eldest sons shall bear the 
titles of Prince and Highness, the others having the title of 
Prince only. Until their marriage the daughters of Princes 
related to the Emperor shall enjoy the title of Princess, but 
after marriage they shall bear only the names and titles 
that may belong to their respective husbands, unless there be 
a special decision of the Crown to a contrary effect. The 
Princesses of the Emperor s family who have married Frenchmen 
or foreigners do not take at Court any other rank than that of 
their husbands."'"' 

The numerous descendants of the first Napoleon''s brother 
Lucien, against whom the above stipulations seem to have been 
chiefly directed, were obliged to submit to them, but they 
always contested their equity, and claimed that Napoleon III. 
had no right to deprive them of the title of Prince or Princess 
of the Imperial Family, as it had been granted to them by the 
first Napoleon's decree of March 22, 1815. As a matter of fact, 
Napoleon III."'s stipulations were not enforced with absolute 
rigidity. For instance, three of Lucien"'s daughters, the 
Marchioness Roccagiovine, the Countess Primoli, and the 
Princess Gabrielli, were, by courtesy, generally known anc^ 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 211 

addressed at the Tuileries as the Princesses Julie, Charlotte, 
and Augusta. 

At the advent of the Second Empire there were four sons 
of Napoleon I.'s brother Lucien living. Those were the Princes 
Charles Lucien of Canino and Musignano,* Louis Lucien,t 
Pierre Napoleon,| and Antoine.§ Louis Lucien and Pierre 
Napoleon were included in the civil family of Napoleon III. 
in 1855, Antoine gained access to it at a later date, but the 
eldest brother, Charles Lucien — a distinguished ornithologist — 
was excluded, in spite of a decree of February 21, 1853, declaring 
him a French Prince. His three sons were admitted at succes- 
sive dates — first. Prince Joseph Lucien Bonaparte, || in 1855 ; 
secondly, Prince Napoleon Charles,^! in 1860 ; and thirdly. Prince 
Lucien Louis,** best known as Cardinal Bonaparte, in 1865. 
The Murats were also represented in the civil family, at first 
merely by the former King of Naples' surviving son. Napoleon 
Lucien Charles, Prince Murat and Prince of Pontecorvo ; tt and 
afterwards by the latter's sons, the Princes Joachim tt and 
Achille Murat.§§ Their sister, the Princess Anna,|| |1 who married 
Antoine de Noailles, Duke de Mouchy and Prince-Duke de 

* Born in Paris in 1803; married in 1822 to Lsetitia-Julie, daughter of 
King Joseph of Spain, by whom he had twelve children, four boys and eight 
girls. He died in 1857. 

t Born in England in 1813, married Maria Cecchi of Lucca in 1883, was 
separated from her in 1850, and died in 1891. 

X Born at Bome in 1815, died at Versailles in 1881. We shall deal with 
him hereafter in more detail. 

§ Born at Frascati in 1816, married Caroline Maria Cardinali of Lucca in 
1823, and died at Florence in 1877. 

II Born at Philadelphia, U.S.A., in February, 1824 ; died at Eome in 1865. 

^ Born at Eome in 1839, and died there in 1899 ; married in 1859 Maria 
Christina, daughter of Prince Euspoli, by whom he had three daughters. 

♦* Born at Eome in 1828, and died there in 1895, Created a Cardinal- 
priest of the Holy Eoman Church in March, 1868. 

tt Born at Milan in 1803, died in Paris in 1878 ; married at Bordentown, 
U.S.A., in 1831, Carolina Georgina Praser, of Charlestown, by whom he had 
three sons and two daughters. She was descended from the Lords Lovat. 

XX Born at Bordentown in 1834 ; married first Malcy Louise Caroline, 
daughter of Napoleon Alexandre Berthier, Prince of Wagram, in 1854, and 
secondly, Lydia Hervey, of Brighton, widow of Baron Arthur Hainguerlot, in 
1894, One son and two daughters by the first marriage. 

§§ Born at Bordentown in January, 1847; died in Mingrelia, Southern 
Eussia, in 1895 ; married, in 1868, Salome', daughter of David Dadiani, Prince 
of Mingrelia, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. 

nil Born at Bordentown in 1841. 



212 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Poix, in 1865, did not belong to the civil family, not did her 
elder sister, the Baroness de Chassiron, who had lost her title 
of Princess by her marriage with an official of the Council of 
State ; but their mother, Princess Lucien Murat, and their 
sisters-in-law, Princesses Joachim and Achille, were included 
in it. The other female members of the civil family were the 
Princess Baciocchi, daughter of the first Napoleon's sister 
Elisa, and the Princess Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, nee 
Ruspoli.* 

All the members of the civil family were more or less pro- 
vided for out of Napoleon III.'s civil list, and his munificence 
extended also to a number of more or less distant relations. 
Some idea of the annual outlay, apart from endowments con- 
stituted at the establishment of the Empire, will be gathered 
from the list we print on our next page. We have included in 
it the special State allowances to Prince Napoleon and Princess 
Mathilde, which allowances did not come out of the civil 
list ; but it will be found that in 1868 the latter alone contri- 
buted over ,£'52,000 to the support of members of the imperial 
family. At that date, too, some who had been pensioned in 
earlier years were dead; while, in addition to the aforesaid 
d£'52,000 from the general civil list fund, there were many 
special grants from the privy purse.f Not only were the debts 
of young Prince Achille Murat paid on various occasions, but 
he secured a special grant at the time of his marriage, his 
takings during the Empire amounting to quite ^£'30,000 ; while 
Princess Anna, Duchess de Mouchy, obtained more than three 
times that amount. In round figures, the first five Murats in 
our table secured about half a million sterling. Further, the 
Countess Rasponi, nee Murat, netted, in one way or another, 
about <£'45,000, and the Pepoli Murats were allotted a like sum. 
The payments from the general fund of the civil list to the 
many members of the Lucien branch of the Bonaparte family 
were well over .£^500,000, and yet the keeper of the privy purse 
was constantly being badgered for extra allowances or loans. 
On one occasion Sir Thomas Wyse, as the husband of Letizia 
Bonaparte, secured a privy purse grant of ,£'16,000, in addition 
to what his wife was receiving regularly. On the other hand, 

* See note ^, p. 211. f See tables on pp. 150, 151. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 



SIS 



STATE ALLOWANCES AND CIVIL LIST GRANTS TO THE 
IMPERIAL FAMILY IN 1868. 



Names. 



Bonapartes — Jerome branch: 

H.I.H. Prince Napoleon 

H.I.H, Princess Mathilde 

Elisa branch : 
Princess Baciocchi 

Item Life Annuity for the redemption 

of the Majorat of Bologna 

Lucien branch : 

Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte 

Prince Pierre Bonaparte 

Prince Antoine Bonaparte 

Prince Lucien Bonaparte 

Prince Napoleon Charles Bonaparte ... 

For rent of mansion 

Princess Marianne Bonaparte 

Marchioness RoGcagiovine 

For residence 

Countess Primoli 

For residence 

Countess Campella 

Princess GabrieUi 

For residence , 

Prince GabrieUi, son 

Marchioness Christina Stephanoni 

Marchioness Amelia Parisani 

Countess Lavinia Aventi 

Mme. Valentin! 

Mme. [Lady?] Bonaparte- Wyse ... ... 

Item for life insurance 

Mme. Rattazzi, nde Wyse... 

Mme. Turr, n^e Wyse 

M. Lucien N. Bonaparte-Wyse 

Mrs. A. Booker 

Mme. C. Honorati-Romagnoli 

Murat branch : 

Prince Lucien Murat 

Princess Lucien Murat 

Prince Achille Murat 

Princess Joachim Murat 

Baroness de Chassiron, nie Murat 

Countess Rasponi, n4e Murat 

Marquis Pepoli 

Countess Mosti, nie Pepoli 

Countess Ruspoli, nie Pepoli 

Countess Tat tini, ?i^e Pepoli 

Paterson branch : 

M. Jerome Bonaparte, _^Zs ... „, 

Morganatic wife of King Jerome : 

Marchioness Bartholoni 



Amounts. 



Francs. 

150,000 
100,000 



50,000\ 
20,000/ 

20,000\ 
20,000/ 
20,000 \ 
20,000/ 

20,000\ 
20,000/ 

(Daughters of 
Princess GabrieUi) 

40,000\ 
6,975/ 



(Originally 100,000) 



Francs. 
1,000,000 
600,000 



250,000 



100,000 

100,000 

100,000 

20,000 

70,000 

6,000 

40,000 

40,000 

20,000 

40,000 

6,250 
6,250 
6,250 
6,250 
25,500 

46,975 

24,000 

24,000 

2,000 

6,000 

6,000 



50,000 

100,000 

24,000 

20,000 

30,000 

50,000 

25,000 

8,333 

8,333 

8,334 

30,000 

12,000 



Total 



£112,437 = Francs 2,810,975 



214 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

the allowance to Mme. Rattazzi, ')iee Wyse, and sometime 
Countess de Solms, was at one moment suspended. Early in 
1865 she gave great offence at Court by the publication of a 
book entitled "Les Manages d'une Creole,"" in which she 
seriously libelled M, Schneider, the owner of the Creusot iron 
and steel works, who succeeded Walewski as President of the 
Legislative Body ; the result being that Mme. Rattazzi was 
struck off the list of the Emperor's annuitants and ordered to 
quit France. A couple of years later, however, she again 
secured her former allowance.* 

It should also be mentioned that there was Mme. Bona- 
parte-Centamori, dead apparently in 1868 (the date of our 
list), who had enjoyed, in earlier years, allowances amounting 
altogether to <£*21,000. One might include, too, among the 
payments to members of the imperial family the special grants 
and the annuity secured by Baron Jerome David, as, although 
he was legally the son of Charles Louis David, the son of David 
the great painter, it was generally admitted that his real father 
was none other than old Prince Jerome, the ex-King of West- 
phalia. Baron David's mother was a beautiful Greek, named 
Maria Capinaki, whom Jerome, the Don Juan par excellence of 
the Bonapartes, met at Rome. He became godfather to his 
own child, and that sponsorship subsequently served as an 
official explanation for the high favour to which Baron Jerome 
David gradually attained at the Tuileries. From being a 
deputy he rose in time to such positions as Vice-President of 
the Legislative Body and Minister of Public AVorks. For those 
duties he naturally received emoluments apart from the allow- 
ance made him by the Emperor,t and that was also the case 
with respect to several of the Bonapartes and Murats. One 
was a senator, another director of the Jardin des Plantes, 
another a general of brigade, another a cavalry captain, and so 
forth, in such wise that civil list and privy purse grants by no 

* Some further particulars respecting Mme. Eattazzi will be found in a 
note on p. 292. 

t The Baron died at Langon (Gironde), in 1822, having been predeceased 
by both the children of his marriage with MUe. Jeanne-Gecile Merle, in such 
wise that the family, which may be regarded almost as an illegitimate branch 
of the Bonapartes, is extinct. The Baroness Jerome David was a lady of the 
greatest beauty, distinction, and virtue. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 215 

means represented the total amount of money which the minor 
members of the Imperial House drew from France. 

The State allowance to the Jerome branch of the family 
was fixed originally at ^^60,000 per annum, and apportioned 
as follows: — Prince Jerome, ^40,000; Prince Napoleon, 
^12,000; and Princess Mathilde, ^8000. When, however, 
Prince Napoleon married Princess Clotilde of Savoy, the 
above amount was increased to dS'SSjOOO a year, apart from 
a special wedding grant of d£*20,000, and it was provided 
that the Princess should receive an annual allowance of 
i?8000 from the French exchequer if she should survive her 
husband. In 1860, however, old Prince Jerome died, and 
dt^GOjOOO a year again became the allowance of his branch of 
the family, two-thirds of the amount then going to Prince 
Napoleon, and one-third to Princess Mathilde. Moreover, 
already at an earlier date, the Palais Royal and the Chateau 
of Meudon had been diverted from the actual dotation of the 
Crown and transferred to Prince Jerome, passing afterwards to 
his son. Prince Napoleon. The last named, in addition to his 
State allowance, drew annual sums of <£1200 as a senator, 
iJ^SOO as a grand cross of the Legion of Honour, and .£400 as a 
general officer on the unemployed list, besides receiving payment 
at various times for certain special duties, such as Minister for 
Algeria, Vice-President of the Council of State, Vice-President 
of various international exhibitions, envoy abroad, and so forth. 
It has been calculated that the total receipts of the Jerome 
branch of the Bonapartes from 1852 to 1870 exceeded a million 
and a half sterling, of which amount about a million was taken 
by Prince Napoleon alone. 

In 1861, the year following the death of old Jerome, 
proceedings were instituted before the Paris Court of First 
Instance for a declaration of the validity of the marriage which 
he contracted at Baltimore in December, 1803, with Miss 
Elizabeth Paterson, of that city. It will be remembered that 
this marriage was protested against by the Prince''s mother 
(" Madame Mere), and annulled by two decrees of Napoleon I. 
Shortly after the establishment of the Second Empire, Mr. 
Jerome Paterson-Bonaparte, the issue of the marriage, arrived in 
France, and was well received by Napoleon III., who granted him 



216 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

by decree the nationality of a French subject, and authorized 
him to bear the name of Bonaparte, besides giving his eldest 
son, a young man of five and twenty, who had served in the 
American forces, a commission in the French army, which 
subsequently enabled him to serve with distinction in the 
Crimea. In July, 1856, however, the Imperial Family Council, 
after inquiring into the Baltimore marriage and the decrees of 
Napoleon I., upheld the view that the former was null and void. 
The object of the proceedings instituted in 1861 before the 
Paris Court by Mrs. Bonaparte, nee Paterson, and her son was 
to set that decision of the family council aside. The great 
advocate Berryer, who appeared for the plaintiffs, laboured 
hard to show that the family council had no authority to 
adjudicate upon the case, and that the decrees of Napoleon I. 
were void, as he had not the power to annul a marriage con- 
tracted before he became Emperor. Quite different were the 
views held by Prince Napoleon's counsel, Maitre Allou, who 
in the course of years became a great authority on marriage 
procedure, figuring, we believe, in more "judicial separation"" 
cases than any other advocate of his time. He claimed that 
the whole question had been settled by the decrees of the first 
and the family council of the third Napoleon. Davignon, the 
Public Advocate, representing the State, favoured Berryer's 
view in some respects, and not in others. For instance, he held 
that the decrees of Napoleon I. did not affect the validity of the 
Baltimore marriage, but were in many respects illegal and un- 
constitutional. Further, he discarded the plea that the marriage 
had been in any degree clandestine, or that it had been nullified 
by the non-publication of the banns in France. But, passing 
to the two sentences of the family council in 1856, which had 
pronounced against the validity of the marriage while declaring 
that Mr. Jerome Bonaparte was entitled to bear that name, 
Davignon argued that the family council was sovereign in all 
matters pertaining to the imperial family ; that the case was 
therefore res judicata, the court being bound by the council's 
decision and debarred from further action. The court's finding 
(February 15, 1861) was in accordance with Davignon's views. 
The judgment contained no expression of opinion on the merits 
of the case, but was based entirely on the ground that the 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 217 

Impenal Family Council had finally and conclusively adjudi- 
cated upon the question submitted to the court. Briefly, the 
Bonapartes were above the law ! 

Various interesting matters came to light during the pro- 
ceedings. It was shown, for instance, that Prince Jerome had 
contracted in his old age a clandestine marriage with the 
Marchioness Bartholoni, who by reason of her wit and sculptural 
beauty was one of the most admired women of the time. In 
his will, dated July 6, 1852, Jerome declared that he had 
married her " in presence of the Church," thereby signifying 
that the civil ceremony had not been performed, and he left 
her an annuity, which was generously supplemented by the 
Emperor.* 

Further, a very curious letter addressed by Jerome to 
Napoleon III. was read during the judicial proceedings. It 
protested against the decrees in favour of " the son and grand- 
son of Miss Paterson," which decrees, said Jerome, " dispose of 
my name without my consent, introduce into my family, without 
even my being consulted, persons that have never belonged to 
it, cast a doubt on the legitimacy of my children, and prepare 
for them [here he was a true prophet] a scandalous lawsuit. . . . 
They constitute an attack upon my honour and that of the 
Emperor, my brother [Napoleon I.], by annulling the solemn 
engagements into which we entered with the King of Wurtem- 
berg and the Emperor of Russia, as a condition of my marriage 
with the Princess Catherine." Jerome therefore appealed for a 
prompt and final decision, saying that he was fast drawing to 
the close of his career, and that he regarded it as a sacred duty 
to see that a question which compromised his dearest interests 
should be settled in his lifetime. There can be little doubt 

* See the table on p. 213. It may be added that when Jerome, while 
playing cards with M. de Damas, his aide-de-camp, was suddenly stricken with 
paralysis, which seizure was followed by his death, Mme. Bartholoni was 
immediately summoned, and nursed the unfortunate old man while he 
lingered, unable to move or to speak, but hearing and seeing everything. His 
son, Prince Napoleon, behaved at that time in a most abominable manner, 
showing no respect whatever for his father's terrible condition. Further, he 
flatly refused to attend the funeral, which took place at Vilgenis, the 
Emperor, Empress, and Princess Mathilde being present. The reason given 
by Prince Napoleon for absenting himself was that he could not con- 
scientiously attend the religious ceremony. 



218 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

that it was this urgent appeal which led to the decision of the 
Imperial Family Council. 

But a yet stranger letter produced during the trial was one 
written by Jerome's son, Prince Napoleon, to his half-brother, 
the son of Miss Paterson. The sentiments it displayed were 
very different from those of the father. Dated July 25, 1854, 
the letter ran as follows : — 

"My dear Brother, 

" I have gone through a great deal, but am glad to find 
that your kind sentiments remain unchanged. It is with real 
satisfaction that I hail the blending of those family sentiments with 
personal sympathy. I appreciate them the more as I cannot say as 
much of all my relations. As for my sister [Princess Mathilde], she 
in particular is a stranger to me. But those sad reflections ought 
not to proceed from my pen now that I feel genuine delight in 
recalling myself to your fraternal souvenir. I know not what fate 
the war may have in store for me [he was already in the Crimea, 
we think]. I hope something will be decided before the winter. A 
thousand good wishes to your son, whom I embrace and love already 
by reason of all the good reports I have heard of him. 

" Your afiectionate brother, 

** Napoleon Bonaparte." 

As it happened, all the cordiality of that " fraternal " letter 
did not prevent Prince Napoleon from contesting in open court, 
seven years later, the validity of his father's marriage to his 
" dear brother's " mother. The Paterson Bonapartes never 
succeeded in gaining their point (the judgment of 1861 was 
subsequently confirmed by the Paris Appeal Court), and some 
kind of compromise was ultimately arrived at. Miss Paterson's 
grandson, who had served in the Crimea — M. Jerome Bonaparte 
fils, as he was called — remained resident in France, and was 
often seen at the Tuileries, sometimes also at the Palais Royal. 
As our table on p. 213 will have shown, he received from 
Napoleon III. an annual allowance of ^£"1200. It so chanced 
that he acted as one of the seconds of the well-remembered 
Paul de Cassagnac of Le Pays when the latter fought his famous 
duel with Henri Rochefort on January 1, 1867. Cassagnac had 
called Rochefort out for slandering the memory of Joan of 
Arc, and thus, while most Parisians were exchanging visiting 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 219 

cards and sweetmeats in honour of the New Year, those two 
firebrands of the press met in a snowstorm on the plain of St. 
Denis for the purpose of exchanging four bullets. At the first 
shot fired by Cassagnac, Rochefort was hit on the left side, near 
the waist, and staggered and fell. For a moment there was 
great anxiety, it being thought that he had received a fatal 
wound, but it was found that he was only suffering from shock. 
The bullet had glanced off him after striking something hard, 
concealed in the waistband of his trousers. He himself was 
anxious to know what it might be, and on the waistband being 
cut open a consecrated medal of the Virgin was found inside it. 
Great was the amazement of Cassagnac and Jerome Bonaparte 
on discovering that a professed free-thinker carried a consecrated 
medal about him, and they were equally astonished that the 
Virgin should have protected a slanderer of the ]\Iaid of Orleans. 
On the other hand, Rochefort himself could in no way account 
for the presence of the medal. Only afterwards did he learn 
that it had been secretly sewn in his waistband by one who, 
loving him, had thereby hoped to ensure his safety. She was 
the mother of his children, and, some four years later, after the 
Commune of Paris, when he was about to be transported to 
New Caledonia, he married her as she lay on her death-bed in 
the hospital of Versailles. 

Rut let us now pass to Prince Jerome''s so-called legitimate 
children. In August, 1807, he espoused Princess Frederika 
Catherine Sophia (usually known as Catherine), daughter of 
Duke Frederick of Wurtemberg (in whose favour that State was 
first raised to the rank of a kingdom) by the Princess Augusta 
CaroHne of Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel. The last named was 
a daughter of Princess Augusta of Great Britain, sister of 
George III., whence it followed that Catherine, the wife of 
Jerome Bonaparte, was a great-granddaughter of Frederick, 
Prince of W^ales. Moreover, her father's sister married the 
Emperor Paul of Russia, and her brother. Prince Royal and 
later King of Wurtemberg, allied himself first to a Bavarian 
Princess and later to a Russian Grand Duchess, in such wise 
that by Catherine's marriage with Napoleon's brother Jerome 
the Bonapartes became connected with some of the chief reigning 
houses of Europe. 



220 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Catherine of Wurtemberg was a clever, high-minded, and 
devoted woman, who clung to her husband however volatile 
his conduct might be. Three children were born to them — a 
son who died when young ; a second one, the Prince Napoleon 
we have frequently mentioned; and a daughter, the Princess 
Mathilde. Prince Napoleon,* an Imperial Prince of France 
(December 2, 1852), designated as successor to the Empire, Count 
of Meudon in France and of Moncalieri in Italy, Napoleon V. in 
the eyes of the French imperialists after the death of the son of 
Napoleon III. in Zululand, was born in September, 1822, at 
Trieste, while his parents were living there in exile. They 
subsequently removed to Rome, where their son was reared until 
he had completed his ninth year. He then went to a college 
at Geneva, which he quitted in 1837 to enter the military 
school of Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart. He subsequently spent 
some years in travel, in Germany, Spain, England, and even 
France, where he was more than once permitted to stay by the 
Government of Louis Philippe. Both he and his father were 
there at the time of the Revolution of 1848, and Prince 
Napoleon, offering himself as a candidate in Corsica, was elected 
a member first of the Constituent and later of the National 
Assembly. 

He did not, however, support the cause of his cousin, the 
future Napoleon HI. On the contrary, he identified himself 
with the extreme Radicals, the " Mountain Party " f of the 
Legislature, repeatedly opposing the measures of his cousin's 
administration, and on one occasion even voting for the 
impeachment of his ministers. Nevertheless, the future Emperor 
evinced the greatest patience and forbearance towards Jerome's 
son, contrasting which with the latter's reckless violence, Odilon 
Barrot was of opinion that the only possible explanation lay in 
certain mysterious family secrets, which gave the radical Prince 
a certain hold over his ambitious cousin. At one moment, to 
get rid of this thorn in his side, the Prince President appointed 
Prince Napoleon ambassador at Madrid — a strange ambassador, 
who all along his route gathered the most advanced democrats 

* Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul. His usual signature, however, was 
' Napoleon (Jerome)." 

t So called because it sat on the highest row of benches in the Assembly. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 221 

around him, and denounced in the bitterest terms the govern- 
ment by which he was employed. So bad was his conduct in 
that respect that it became necessary to recall him before he 
even reached Spain ! He afterwards plunged more and more 
into opposition courses, and at the Coup d'Etat he was among 
those who signed the first protests against it. 

While willingly accepting the honours and emoluments 
showered upon him at the re- establishment of the Empire, 
Prince Napoleon persevered in more or less fractious conduct 
throughout the reign. How far he was sincere in the profession 
of radical views, and how far he merely gave them expression 
in order to annoy and baulk his cousin and win a certain 
reputation for independence of character, must, we think, 
always remain uncertain. His alacrity in accepting honours 
and wealth from the sovereign whom he so constantly opposed, 
and even denounced, did not redound to his credit. Even as 
the Empress Eugenie claimed to play the part of Marie 
Antoinette, so Prince Napoleon assumed a role akin to that 
of Philippe Egalite, a comparison which suggested itself the 
more readily as he resided, like the Duke of Orleans, at the 
Palais Royal, while the Emperor, like Louis XVI., occupied 
the Tuileries. 

Although Prince Napoleon had never served in any army, 
he was, as we mentioned previously, made a general officer by 
the Emperor, and sent to the Ci'imea in command of the 
third division of St. Arnaud's forces. The accounts of his 
share in the battle of the Alma are conflictino-. Accordino- 
to some he behaved right gallantly, according to others he 
covered himself with disgrace. Plis early return from the war 
certainly indisposed the Parisians against him, not for a while, 
but for the rest of his life. Detested already by the genuine 
imperialists for his affectation of radicalism, distrusted by true 
democrats on account of his alacrity in accepting the Emperor''s 
favours, he utterly failed to win any measure of popularity, 
and it was in vain that a small coterie of adherents praised his 
talents — which were considerable — and tried to induce the 
public to take him seriously. 

In point of fact, the Prince lacked those qualities which 
are essentially requisite in every man of ambition, be he 



222 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

either politician or soldier, that is, the qualities of patience 
and perseverance. He could command neither his will nor his 
tongue. A fluent but unequal speaker, he frequently became 
intoxicated with his own words, and lost the power of con- 
trolling his utterances. He often began by saying that he 
intended to remain calm, but a moment later you could detect 
passion growling in his resonant, domineering voice. He would 
also express his intention of respecting the proprieties, and yet 
immediately afterwards galling epithets would leap from his 
lips. Disturbed thereby, he would then try to beat a retreat, 
and fail. Annoyed with himself for having let his tongue run 
on, and annoyed with his hearers because he had thus given 
them an opportunity of judging him, he would finally break off 
in the midst of a sentence, leaving his discourse unfinished, save 
for the angry gesture in which he usually indulged before sitting 
down. Such was Prince Napoleon in the Senate and the 
Council of State, at Ajaccio, and elsewhere. 

After one of those explosions there often came a fit of 
dejection, perhaps of repentance, which carried him off to his 
estate of Prangins, in Switzerland, where, deserting political 
life for months at a stretch, he remained, ploughing in silence 
" his lonely furrow." More than once he proved himself to be, 
politically, something like the Lord Rosebery of the Empire. 
Further, he dreamt rather than he conceived. He began a 
thing and never finished it. Ambassador, general, functionary, 
ministei-, whatever post he might hold, it lasted no longer than 
a fragile toy in the hands of a self-willed child. It was his 
constant practice to throw the helve after the hatchet ; he broke 
down every steed that was offered to him before he was even 
well in the saddle. 

His few partisans used to say that he was fit only for the 
first rank, and could not serve in the second. But even as 
the earlier period of his life showed that he could not obey, 
so the last period showed that he was not fit for command. 
Thus it is principally by way of presenting the reader with 
a curiosity that we will quote the description of the Prince, 
which, apropos of his portrait by Flandrin, was penned in 1861 
by Edmond About — a description which created an extra- 
ordinary sensation when it first appeared in print, and drew 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 223 

down upon the Opinion Nationale, in which it was issued,* an 
official warning that the journal would be suppressed should it 
ever dare to print anything similar. This, then, is what About 
wrote — 

" This portrait is not merely a good painting, it is a great work, 
the fruit of a superior mind, a high intellect. If every scrap of 
contemporary history were to be lost, this canvas alone could tell 
posterity what Prince Napoleon was. Here we see the man him- 
self, this misplaced Cjesar,! whom nature cast in the mould of the 
Roman emperors, but whom fate has hitherto condemned to stand 
with folded arms at the foot of a throne. We see him, proud of 
the name he bears and of the talent he has revealed, visibly cut 
to the heart by, and nobly impatient of, a fatality which, doubtless, 
will not always prevail against him. We see him, then, an aristocrat 
by education, a democrat by instinct, the legitimate, not the bastard, 
son of the French Revolution ; born for action, but condemned for 
a time to aimless agitation and sterile motion ; thirsting for glory, 
scornful of common popularity, caring nothing for common report, 
and too high-hearted to court either the masses or the middle 
classes pursuant to the old traditions of the Palais Royal. Yes, 
this is the man who solicited the honour of leading the French 
columns to the assault of Sebastopol, and returned to Paris shrugging 
his shoulders because of the delays of a siege which seemed to him 
to be stupid. This is the man who, from mere curiosity and to 
relieve the ennui of an active mind, went on a promenade, with his 
hands in his pockets, among the polar icebergs where Sir John 
Franklin lost his life. This is the man who, with vigorous arm, 
undertook the government of Algeria, and threw it up in disgust 
because he had not sufficient freedom of action. This is he who 
recently stood forth in the Senate; placed himseli per saltern in the 
front rank of the most illustrious orators, crushing the Papacy as 
a lion of the Sahel crushes some trembling victim ; and that done, 
turned on his heel and strolled back to his villa in the Avenue 
Montaigne, where he is surrounded by the exquisite atmosphere of 
elegant antiquity. If there be one characteristic of that noble and 
remarkable face which M. Flandrin has not quite conveyed, it is 
the delicate, acute, Florentine expression which makes the Prince 

* The Prince financed that i journal, which was then edited hy Adolphe 
Gu^roult. He had previously financed La Presse, which Nefftzer and Peyrafc 
conducted. 

t C6sar d6class6 — the name stuck, but not in the sense in which About 
intended it. 



224 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

so like a member of the Medici family. It should be possible, I 
think, to cast upon canvas some reflection of the graces of that 
powerful, delicate, and versatile mind, which astonishes, attracts 
and overawes, captivates without seeking to captivate, and rivets 
without effort the devotion of his friends." 



Looking back, that portrait seems to us like a caricature ; 
and although Edmond About, like Emile de Girardin, the 
Gueroults, Edmond Texier, and various other "Liberals" of 
the day, was an habitue of the Palais Royal, one of those who 
dined and wined and hobnobbed with Prince Napoleon, he 
assuredly had his tongue in his cheek while penning so 
extravagant, so exaggerated an effusion. It was taken 
seriously enough, however, by the powers of the day. 

Girardin, whom we have just named, was an extremely 
self-opinionated individual, who frequented the Palais Royal 
more for an opportunity to air his own paradoxical views than 
from any feeling of regard for or belief in Prince Napoleon. 
One evening he expounded a favourite political system of his, 
a kind of mitigated anarchism, in which the unlimited liberty 
of the citizens had, as its counterweight, the absolute indepen- 
dence of the authorities. 

" Let me see if I understand you," said the PrinCe at last. 
"I represent authority, you represent liberty. You say and 
do whatever you choose against me, both in your newspapers 
and at your public meetings, in the streets, and so forth. That 
is the portion of liberty. On my side, I set batteries of artillery 
at every street corner in Paris, and if you annoy me I shoot 
you down. That's my independence. Is that your idea ? " 

" Quite so." 

"Then I'm perfectly ready to adopt your system," the 
Prince retorted gaily. 

" Don't trust him," said one who knew him well in those 
days ; " if he should ever reign, he would be a modern Tiberius, 
not from motives of cruelty, but from egotism. He is blase 
and bored." 

About's account of the Prince"'s exploits, in the description 
we have quoted, was in some respects grotesque. Leaving 
aside the debatable question of the Alma, his voyage to the 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 225 

polar circle, made in June, 1856, was a very commonplace 
affair, which, although undertaken, according to official accounts, 
for " scientific purposes,"" yielded no results of scientific value. 
It amounted, in fact, to little more than a sojourn in Green- 
land among the Esquimaux, followed, as a finale^ by a series of 
visits to Christiania, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. As for the 
post of Minister of Algeria, this was merely given to the Prince 
by way of supplying him with a little routine occupation. He 
threw it up, undoubtedly, but any man of sense would have 
known beforehand that the Ministry was bound to clash with 
the Governorship of the colony, and could at the utmost prove 
little more than an ornamental post. 

The Prince's marriage on January 30, 1859, with the 
Princess Clotilda Maria Theresa of Savoy, daughter of Kino- 
Victor Emmanuel II., was contracted for political reasons, and 
proved as unhappy as such marriages usually do. It is even 
astonishing that the Prince should have assented to it when it 
was suggested to him by Napoleon III. In any case his assent 
showed that, much as he laid claim to independence of 
character, he could put that aside when a large increase of 
income was offered him. Directly the match was made public 
it was expedited with a haste which astonished Europe, as it 
seemed little short of indecent. It is true the marriage had 
been secretly arranged some time previously, being one of the 
consequences of the conference of Plombieres (July '58), when 
Count Cavour and Chevalier Nigra met Napoleon III., Count 
Walewski, Baron de Billing, and M. Mocquard to settle the 
question of " United Italy." However, immediately the 
Princess was deemed old enough to marry, Prince Napoleon 
swooped down on Turin like a burglar. He was then over 
thirty-seven, while the poor little bride Avas but fifteen years 
and ten months old. The marriage was compared not unaptly 
to that of an elephant and a gazelle : the bridegroom, with his 
marked Napoleonic features, being broad and bulky and 
ponderous, the bride short, slight, and frail looking, with fair 
hair and the characteristic tip-tilted nose of the Royal House 
of Savoy. She seemed indeed, as she really was, a delicately 
nurtured child, fresh from the nursery. 

The marriage followed the Emperor Napoleon's memorable 



THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

public warning to Baron Hiibner, the Austrian Ambassador, 
at the New Year reception at the Tuileries ; but although that 
warning presaged hostilities on the part of France in support 
of Italian independence, the Piedmontese by no means favoured 
the union into which their King's daughter was forced. They 
regarded it, in fact, almost as a mesalliance. It was useless 
to protest however. Prince Napoleon hurried his child-wife 
away to France. As in those days there was no Cenis, or 
Simplon, or Gothard tunnel, the journey was made by way of 
Genoa, and thence by sea to Marseilles ; and when the bridal 
couple made their state entry into Paris on February 4, every 
one noticed how tired and sad and shy was the juvenile 
countenance of the poor young lady, whom " Plon-Plon " had 
brought back with him. The reception was distinctly cold, 
but that was on account of the husband's personality; the 
silence of the crowd meant no disrespect for the daughter of 
Victor Emmanuel. She, indeed, Avas spoken of with no little 
sympathy; and it may here be added that throughout the 
remainder of the Empire no voice was ever raised in criticism 
or disparagement of the retiring, charitable, pious, and un- 
happily mated lady of the Palais Royal. Even at the Revo- 
lution of 1870 she was treated with the utmost respect and 
deference. Three children were born of the marriage, as 
follows : Firstly, Prince Napoleon Victor Jerome Frederic, who 
came into the world at the Palais Royal, on July 18, 1862, and 
who is now the Head of the House of Bonaparte; secondly. 
Prince Napoleon Louis Joseph Jerome, who was born at the 
chateau of Meudon on July 16, 1864, and is now a general 
officer in the Russian service ; thirdly. Princess Marie Laetitia 
Eugenie Catherine Adelaide, born at the Palais Ro3ralbii" 
December 20, 1866, and married in 1888 to her uncle, 
Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, and sometime King of Spain. He 
Ved in 1890. <^,^.x « 6 ^ U' - \'\%% VXeoox^^s^ 

Prince Napoleon had the customary vice of the Bonapartes. 
Both before and after his marriage his name figured in the 
scandals of the time. It was associated notably with those of 
two actresses, Rachel and Mile. Judith. By the last named he 
had, in 1853, a son, who died in 1885. Another illegitimate 
son by an Englishwoman is said to be still alive. But the 



J 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 227 

most discreditable of all the intrigues in which Prince Napoleon, 
or indeed any Bonaparte, ever engaged, was that with the 
notorious Cora Pearl. It was matter of common notoriety, 
and so little pains were taken to conceal it that we can 
remember seeing the woman's brougham waiting in the Rue de 
Montpensier, and she herself slipping out of the Palais Royal 
and springing into the vehicle. She left him, it seems, because 
he did not open his purse often enough to suit her. 

As most people are aware, the Palais Royal was originally 
built by Richelieu, and called in his honour the Palais Cardinal. 
It passed into the possession of Louis XIIL, and later, while 
Anne of Austria was Regent of France, it became her residence, 
afterwards going to her younger son, the Duke of Orleans. 
From that time onwai'd the palace underwent so many changes 
architecturally, that little remained of the original structure. 
Twice in the eighteenth century it was badly damaged by fire, 
which led to much rebuilding. It was in 1780 that, for purposes 
of gain, the Duke of Orleans, subsequently known as Philippe 
Egalite, raised the rows of houses with arcaded shops around 
the palace garden. Lack of money prevented him from com- 
pleting his plans, and for many years some of the galleries were 
mere wooden structures. The garden, the coffee-houses, and 
the underground circus in the centre of the garden were, it 
will be remembered, associated with notable events of the 
French Revolution. Later the palace galleries were largely 
given over to gamblers and harlots, the spot becoming the 
centre of the fast life of Paris. Under the Consulate the palace 
itself was the quarters of the " Tribunat," but Naooleon 
eventually attached it to the domains of the Crown. In 1815 
his brother Lucien resided at the Palais Royal, which after- 
wards reverted to the Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe. It was 
there, indeed, that he was officially notified of the legislative 
decision which declared him " King of the French." The 
palace was pillaged in 1848, and was subsequently used as mili- 
tary headquarters and for fine art shows. After the Coup 
d'Etat, Napoleon III. assigned it as a residence to his uncle. 
Prince Jerome, but so much money was spent in renovatino- the 
Tuileries and perfecting the Louvre that until Prince Napoleon's 
marriage with Princess Clotilde only urgent repairs were carried 



228 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

out at the Palais Royal. A little later came important changes. 
The grand staircase was entirely rebuilt, and most of the 
apartments were redecorated. The rooms were very numerous ; 
there were, if we remember rightly, over a score of salons, but 
they vv^ere mostly rather small. Very fine, however, was the 
Salle des Fetes, with its oval sky ceiHng, gilded cornices, central 
marble fountain, and lofty chimney-piece, surmounted by a bust 
of Napoleon IK., with attendant female figures upholding the 
imperial escutcheon. The prevailing style of decoration was a 
kind of modernized Renaissance, in which the emblems of the 
Empire were blended with ornamentation characteristic of the 
Francis I. and Medici periods. For instance, in the magnificent 
Salle des Colonnes, a crowned imperial eagle appeared in each 
of the intercolumniatory compartments, above female demi- 
fio-ures which raised baskets of fruit and flowers beside busts 
of such celebrities as Buffon, Voltaire, Machiavelli, Moliere, 
Corneille, and Descartes. From the Salle des Colonnes an 
arcade led to the Salle des Batailles, where the panels were 
hung with some fine old tapestry representing the victories of 
Louis XIV., the general effect being somewhat spoilt, however, 
by the garnet velvet upholstery of the furniture. 

Perhaps the most satisfactory apartment was the so-called 
morning reception room, in which Prince Napoleon usually 
gave audience. Here again the imperial eagle figured in the 
friezes above the walls, but all the rest was of late Renaissance 
style. Very striking was the lofty chimney-piece with its large 
white marble medallion of Venus rising from the waves. The 
picture-gallery, hung in red silk damask, contained some good 
paintings, notably family portraits, and a wonderful one of 
Rachel the tragedienne. There Avas also a salon effectively 
fitted with green marble, and another hung with superb 
Gobelins. The old chapel of Louis Philippe's time was turned 
by Prince Napoleon into a kind of museum (he was, we may 
mention, a collector of considerable taste), a new chapel being 
fitted up near the private apartments of Princess Clotilde in 
the right-hand wing of the palace. This new chapel, lighted 
by armorial windows and having a vaulted ceiling, all azure 
and golden stars, contained a curious little altar formed of a 
slab of marble resting on small pillars of massive gold, and 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 229 

surmounted by a statuette of Our Lady of Victory. Princess 
Clotilde's rooms, which extended as far back as the palace 
garden, and included two salons, a boudoir, a private library, 
and a bedroom, were furnished and decorated throughout in a 
clear blue, in keeping with the Princess's complexion ; but the 
bedroom of the Prince was huno; with dazzlino; oranoje silk. 
*' At all events, he knows himself," a visitor remarked one day. 
" That yellowish hue is very appropriate. Yellow is the 
colour of jealousy, and in nearly all his actions the Prince 
betrays his jealousy of the Emperor." 

It was not often, as the years went by, that grand entertain- 
ments were given at the Palais Royal, for Princess Clotilde 
gradually led a more and more retired life. But the few balls 
which took place were marked by magnificence and taste. 
Dinner-parties were much more frequent. When the Prince 
was in Paris, not a week elapsed without one of those petits 
diners at which he gathered together the politicians, journalists, 
literary men, and artists of his coterie. Some of these were 
epicures in their way, and the cuisine was excellent, much more 
refined than at the Tuileries. But although there was no 
appearance of a scramble, everything was served and consumed 
with a rapidity which was scarcely an aid to digestion. For 
instance, you sat down at eight o'clock, and at a quarter to 
nine, after ten or a dozen dishes and eight kinds of wine, you 
found yourself in the smoking-room finishing your Turkish 
coffee. The system was the same at the Tuileries, where the 
Emperor declared that three-quarters of an hour was ample 
time for dinner, coffee included. 

Besides the use of the Palais Royal, Prince Napoleon enjoyed 
that of the historic chateau of Meudon, erected by the " Great 
Dauphin " at the close of the seventeenth century,* and over- 
looking the valley of the Seine from the heights between 
Clamart and Sevres. The Germans destroyed it by fire during 
the siege of Paris in 1870. Here Prince Napoleon at one time 
kept a pack of hounds, with which he was accustomed to go 
buck-hunting on Sunday mornings while his wife was at her 

* The older one, built by Cardinal de Lorraine, after Philibert Delorme's 
designs, was in a state of ruin at the time of Napoleon I., who caused it to be 
demolished. 



S30 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

prayers. The Emperor also placed the woods of Villefermoy 
in Seine-et-Marne (2500 acres in extent) at his disposal for 
shooting purposes. The Prince's name was associated, too, with 
another place, a model of a Pompeian house, which he erected 
in the late fifties at the Champs Elysees end of the Avenue 
Montaigne, and called the Villa Diomede. It was not simply 
intended as a toy, but fitted with all modern requisites, al- 
though it exhibited the characteristics of Pompeian architecture. 
Entering by a portico supported by yellow pillars and columns, 
you found bronze statues of Minerva and Achilles on either 
side of the peristyle, while, in mosaic work on the walls, 
appeared two huge dogs tugging at their chains as if to spring 
upon intruders, and justifying the inscription of Cave Canein, 
which was set beside them. The atrium of the villa was a real 
Napoleonic conceit. The light fell from the impluvium on some 
half-fluted purple columns of the Ionic order, between two of 
which was an altar adorned with garlands and bearing a large 
white marble bust of the first Napoleon, who appeared there as 
the senior tutelary deity of the abode. All around, between the 
columns and the marble couches, on which you might recline 
while listening to the murmur of scented water falling from a 
head of Minerva into a basin of porphyry, were ranged busts 
of many other members of the House of Bonaparte, figuring as 
subordinate or attendant lai'es. The misfortune was that the 
libations to those family gods were poured forth too frequently 
by Cora Pearl. Already in 1864 Prince Napoleon had grown 
tired of that "exquisite atmosphere of elegant antiquity," as 
About phrased it, but he did not find a pur chaser for the villa 
till a couple of years later, when he parted with the building 
and its contents — there were many fine bronzes — for about 
£70,000. 

In 1863 the Prince, accompanied by his wife, went officially 
to Egypt, to inspect the progress which was being made with 
the Suez Canal. Other missions and appointments followed, 
but in the spring of 1865 came the most serious of his ruptures 
with his cousin the Emperor. The latter was then in Algeria, 
the Empress remaining in Paris as Regent ; and the Prince was 
deputed to proceed to Corsica to inaugurate at Ajaccio some 
memorials to the glory of the first Napoleon and his brothers. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 231 

He profited by this opportunity to deliver what for the period 

was a somewhat revolutionary speech, in which, besides personally 

advocating the widest liberty, he claimed that the mission of 

the first Napoleon, and by inheritance that of his successor, was 

merely to use dictatorship as a means of emancipation. A similar 

opinion had been expressed long previously by Napoleon III., 

who had promised liberty as the crowning of the edifice, and 

had departed, for some four years already, from the strict 

principle of personal rule, which had been observed during the 

first period of the Empire. But Prince Napoleon's reckless, 

almost violent phraseology gave offence, and in the result the 

Emperor wrote his cousin a severe letter, which was published 

in the Moniteur. After declaring in this missive that the 

programme placed under the aegis of the first Emperor could 

only serve the enemies of the imperial government, Napoleon III. 

added : " What is clear to all is that, in order to prevent anarchy 

of opinion — true liberty's most formidable foe — the Emperor 

established, first in his family and then in his government, so 

severe a discipline that it admitted of but one source of will and 

action. In future I shall not depart from that line of conduct." 

To that covert threat of disciplinary measures if he should 

venture to speak his mind again, Prince Napoleon retorted by 

resigning his posts as Vice-President of the Council of State and 

President of the Commission for the Paris Exhibition of 1867, 

and it was not until more than two years had elapsed that 

he would accept any other official functions.* 

Meantime he never went to the Tuileries unless he was 
absolutely compelled to do so, as, for instance, to attend the 
opening of a parliamentary session ; and the antagonism between 
the Tuileries and the Palais Royal was acute. In the end, 
curiously enough, the latter virtually won the day. The 
Emperor's views gradually inclined more and more towards the 
Prince's, and the experiment of real and fairly liberal parlia- 
mentary rule was tried. If its execution had been confided to 

* The Prince also got into trouble with the Duke d'Aumale for attempt- 
ing to criticize some passages reflecting on the Bonaparte family which 
figured in the Duke's " Histoire de la Maison de Conde." The Duke answered 
the Prince in a slashing pamphlet entitled " Lettre sur I'Histoire de Prance," 
and if any other man but Prince Napoleon had been concerned in the affair, 
a duel would certainly have ensued. 



g^2 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

some new man — could such have been found — a man who had 
compromised himself neither in connection with the origin of 
the Empire nor in connection with the anti-dynastic opposition, 
the experiment might possibly have succeeded ; but it was 
entrusted to M. Emile Ollivier, whom the democratic party 
regarded as a renegade, and whom most imperialists distrusted, 
holding that as he had betrayed the Republican cause he might 
well betray that of the Empire. It was an unfortunate position, 
and even if there had been no Franco-German war we think 
that the Empire could only have been saved by the early retire- 
ment of Emile Ollivier, for in spite of the result of the last 
Plebiscitum (May, 1870), he, personally, was a very unpopular 
man — one whose antecedents placed powerful weapons in the 
hands of the anti-dynastic opposition. At the most he could 
only serve for a time as a stop-gap, or a kind of bridge, over 
which the Empire might pass from the old men of the Coup 
d'Etat to the younger and as yet untried generation. 

But we are anticipating. Whether Prince Napoleon was 
sincere in advocating unrestricted freedom of the press and 
rio-ht of public meeting, or whether, as there are real grounds 
for thinking, his outbursts on those subjects were simply 
dictated by his detestation of his cousin's right-hand man, 
Rouher, the powerful " Vice-Emperor," he saw some attempts 
made to give effect to his preachings. The war came, however, 
and the Empire fell. For a time the Prince sought a refuge 
in Italy. The letters patent by which his father-in-law, Victor 
Emmanuel, created him Count of Moncalieri, are dated Novem- 
ber 1, 1870. Later he was able to return to France, not being 
in the direct line of succession to the Empire, which was still 
represented by Napoleon III. and the Imperial Prince. In 
1873 he was even elected President of the Conseil general 
(County Council) of Corsica, but he intrigued against the 
Imperial Prince even as he had intrigued against the Emperor. 
In 1874< the very men who had elected him refused to attend 
the sittings at Ajaccio, in order to avoid assembling under his 
chairmanship. So he failed again, missed even that chance of 
establishing a footing in public Hfe, even as he had missed all 
his other chances, or failed in all his dreams. He never secured 
the crown of France any more than he secured that of Poland 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 233 

or Hungary or Tuscany, as he had at one or another moment 
dreamt of doing. After the death of the Imperial Prince he 
was a Pretender in httle more than name. Thoug-h the Re- 
pubhc took measures against him on various occasions, he was 
never a danger ; he was too unpopular, too much distrusted. 
In 1884) the Bonapartist party actually renounced his leader- 
ship, and his son Victor broke away from him. Briefly, in 
spite of undoubted gifts, culture, taste, wit, and talent, Prince 
Napoleon left behind him nothing save a record of failure, 
instability, and foolish opiniativeness, with that portrait by 
Flandrin, which, according to Edmund About, was to supply 
all deficiencies. If we remember rightly, the Prince''s cir- 
cumstances were greatly reduced when he died at Rome in 
March, 1891. Of his two sons. Prince Victor, though now 
nominally the head of the Bonapartes, is, like his father, no 
danger for the French Republic. He has taken little part in 
politics beyond issuing an occasional manifesto, to which few 
have accorded attention ; and even if by some extraordinary 
revulsion of feeling the imperialist cause should ever again 
appeal to Frenchmen, the Prince's private circumstances would 
virtually prevent his elevation to the throne. Living in retire- 
ment at Brussels, he has chosen, perhaps, the better part of 
life — a quiet home and attendant affections. His brother, 
Prince Louis, the Russian general, has often been mentioned, 
however, as a possible pretender, and is, perhaps, better placed 
for the assumption of such a role. But personally he has made 
no sign, and, when all is said, the French imperialist party 
dwindles year by year, day by day, in such wise that there 
seems to be little likelihood of any Bonaparte ever again 
obtaining an opportunity to come forward as the saviour of 
the nation. 

Let us pass to Princess Mathilde, the daughter of old 
Jerome, and Prince Napoleon's sister. The artistic taste and 
perception which, it may readily be admitted, were possessed 
by both her father and her brother, were found in a yet higher 
degree in her. She was probably the most cultured, and in 
her sphere the most talented, of all the Bonapartes. Of fine 
physique, very good looking when young, she always remained 
a >voman of dignified presence, in spite of the corpulent figure 



234 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

and the pendent cheeks of advancing years. She cultivated art 
in several of its branches, her ability as a painter was real, 
and, from the establishment of the Empire until her death in 
January, 1904, she surrounded herself with artists and literary 
men, gathering at her residence — first in the Rue de Courcelles, 
and later in the Rue de Berri, as well as at St. Gratien, in the 
northern environs of Paris — a large company of talented and 
eminent people, many of whom she reconciled to the imperial 
regime^ while others were at least induced to tolerate it by the 
influence of her personality, which attracted, pacified, and dis- 
armed. Prince Napoleon's coterie seldom gained recruits, 
whereas the circle of Princess Mathilde was always expanding. 
If we were called upon to name all those who met at her house, 
we should have to enumerate two-thirds of the men who made 
any reputation in literature, science, journalism, painting, 
sculpture, and music in the days of the Empire. We prefer to 
send the reader to all the social chronicles of that time, notably 
to the Goncourt Memoirs, and even to Viel Castel. 

The Sunday soirees in the Rue de Courcelles were always 
attended by a crowd of notabilities. Some gathered in the 
large Salon de Conversation, which was hung with ancient and 
modern paintings, and displayed on either side of its chimney- 
piece some absolutely colossal Chinese vases adapted to support 
candelabra. Facing the fireplace, and reflected in the lofty 
mirror above it, rose the famous life-size statue of the young 
Florentine singer fingering his mandoline — a statue familiar to 
all by the many small reproductions in bronze popularized by 
Barbedienne. If you preferred music to conversation you passed 
on, through other rooms, to a spacious semicircular salon, 
where you might listen to Miolan-Carvalho singing an air 
from the " Huguenots," or Christine Nilsson repeating some 
dreamy Swedish song, or Gardoni interpreting Verdi. At times 
that gifted amateur, Mme. Conneau, whose voice was worth a 
hundred thousand crowns a year, would sing " Son vergine 
vezzosa" with a sweetness and power such as only Grisi had 
excelled. At another time the Princess''s chamber-musicians, 
directed by M. Sauzay, would execute some learned concerto ; 
and at yet another moment Bressant and Madeleine Brohan, 
taking their stand near the chimney-piece, would act, with that 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 235 

restraint of voice and gesture which is needful in a drawing- 
room, some httle two-part comedy by Octave Feuillet ; or else 
Coquelin and some pretty souhrette would play one of the 
sprightly Neapolitan fantasias of Theodore de Banville. 

If there came a pause in the music or the playing, you 
passed through one of three doorways into the Princess's 
wonderful conservatory, or winter garden, where you found a 
surprising wealth of tropical plants and beautiful statuary. 
Truncated columns, adorned with enamelwork, served as stands 
for lamps and candelabra ; Eastern rugs were spread over 
the paths, rare Chinese and Japanese cabinets, vases, and curios 
peeped from among the verdure ; armchairs and ottomans and 
sofas stood invitingly here and there ; and in one corner you 
noticed the little writing-table at which the Princess usually 
attended to her correspondence in the morning, surrounded by 
her four pet dogs, Phil, Tom, Miss, and Lolotte, whom Jadin 
portrayed on canvas. The Princess"'s customary place at the 
Sunday soiiSes was near the chimney-piece in the Salon de 
Conversation, but from time to time she passed through the 
various rooms, and whenever she paused among a group of 
guests the conversation sparkled, for she was gifted with no 
little natural wit. 

When she was young there had been some question of her 
marrying her cousin, the future Napoleon III. She was a 
woman fit for a throne, but, given her sense of personal dignity 
and her independence of character, her union with a man of the 
Emperor's disposition would hardly have proved, we think, a 
satisfactory one. As it happened, she made a most unhappy 
marriage. Born at Trieste in May, 1820, she was wedded at 
Florence, on November 1, 1840, to Prince Anatole Nicolaiewitch 
Demidoff', of San Donato, who was her senior by seven years.* 
One is reminded of the irony of life on reading the effusive 
letters by which that young Russian millionaire announced the 
consent of the Princess's father to other members of the Bona- 
parte family. His dearest wish was about to be gratified, his 
happiness knew no bounds ! Five years later he and his wife 

* He had been created Prince of San Donato by the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany. His father had been the Eussian diplomatic representative at Rome 
and Florence. 



236 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

were separated. He had treated her with great cruelty, and it 
was the Emperor Nicholas who insisted on the separation. 
According to one account, the Czar discovered the situation 
during a stay he made at Florence — probably after his visit to 
London in 1844. In any case the separation was effected by 
his authority, and Prince Demidoif, whose income was then 
about ^£"90,000 a year, was ordered to pay his wife ^£'20,000 
annually, and to abstain from going at any time to any place 
within a hundred miles of where she might be living. Demidoff 
was compelled to obey, for fear lest all his property in Russia 
should be confiscated. It is thus that an autocrat is able to 
enforce his decision, which, in the case in point, was a just one. 
Prince Demidoff survived until May, 1870, and for a good 
many years Princess Mathilde enjoyed the jointure fixed by the 
Czar, in addition to her French civil-list allowance. This 
enabled her to live in dignity, entertain freely, assist many 
struggling artists and writers, and do no little good unosten- 
tatiously in various ways. She was long the providence of the 
village of St. Gratien, where she had her country seat. 

At the same time she was a Bonaparte, the daughter of old 
Jerome, the hero of a hundred gallantries ; and after brushing 
mere scandal aside, it must be said that her name was associated 
with those of two men of her time, first Alfred Emilien, Count 
de Nieuwerkerke, and secondly Claudius Popelin. Nieuwerkerke, 
Superintendent of Fine Arts under the Empire, a tall, hand- 
some, bearded man, was of Dutch origin, but was born in Paris 
in 1811. He married a Mile, de Montessuy (who predeceased 
him), and survived until 1892, when he died at Lucca. During 
the Empire his relations with Princess Mathilde were matter of 
common notoriety. His official functions frequently exposed 
him to attack, but she upheld him against all comers, and at 
one time had a very serious dispute respecting him with her 
bi'other. Prince Napoleon, who, in order to annoy her, had 
omitted Nieuwerkerke's name from some artistic commission 
which he had been selected to appoint. 

Later, Claudius Popelin, the painter, engraver, and enam- 
eller, took Nieuwerkerke's place beside the Princess. The son of 
a Paris merchant, and born in 1825, Popelin was a widower at 
the time, having lost his wife in 1869. Ten years later the 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 237 

Almanack de Gotha stated that Princess Mathilda and M. Paupe- 
lin {sic) had been married in England in December, 1871. It is 
certain that the Princess was in England at the date mentioned, 
but subsequent to the statement of the Alvianach de Gotha a 
paragraph signed A. Rdnal was published in Le Figaro declar- 
ing, on the Princess's behalf, that the assertions respecting 
the marriage were untrue. Nevertheless, down to the time of 
Popelin's death in 1892, the Princess's intimates were certainly 
under the impression that he was at least morganatically her 
husband. On the whole, whatever lapses there may have been 
in the Princess Mathilde's life, we feel that they may be more 
readily condoned than those of any other member of the 
imperial family. Bearing in mind that she was a Bonaparte, 
with all the temperament of that race, one must recollect that, 
after a most unhappy period of wedlock, she was separated 
from her husband when only five and twenty years old, and 
that there was no possibility of her marrying again while he 
lived — which he did, as already mentioned, until 1870. Thus, 
after the separation, the only prospect before the young 
Princess was one of long lonely years. That may not be 
excuse, but it will serve to explain her position, and why she 
accepted such consolation as she found. For our part we do 
not feel inclined to throw stones at anybody, either man or 
woman, who is debarred by the rigour of laws or the dogmas 
of churches from living in that marital state for which all of us 
are intended. 

Earlier in this chapter we referred to the Murat family,* 
which in social matters often figured prominently during the 
Empire. It will have been noticed that the head of the house, 
Prince Lucien, married an American lady of Scotch descent, and 
that their children were born at Bordentown, in the United 
States. The story of the union in its earlier period is interesting. 
Until Prince Lucien — the second son of the great Murat — was 
twelve years old he saw his father occupying the throne of 
Naples, but in 1815 he became an exile, going with his mother 
to Trieste, and thence to Venice, where he lived till 1825. He 
then started for the United States, intending to join his elder 
brother and his uncle Joseph there, but unfortunately his ship 
* ^QQ ante, p. 211. 



238 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

ran aground off the coast of Spain, and, his identity being 
discovered, he was for some time kept a prisoner by the Spanish 
Bourbons. Ultimately he contrived to reach America, where 
he married Miss Eraser and settled down to commercial pursuits. 
In these, however, he was so unlucky that his means were soon 
exhausted, and the situation was only saved by his wife, a 
woman of high character. Calling herself simply Madame 
Murat, she opened at Bordentown a school for girls, by which 
means and in spite of many difficulties she contrived to support 
herself, her husband, and their children — there being in all five, 
one of whom died before the departure of the family for France. 
This occurred about the time of the election of Louis Napoleon 
as President of the Republic. Prince Murat then became a 
deputy, exerted himself on his cousin's behalf, and after the 
Coup d'Etat was created a senator and confirmed in his rank 
and titles. Napoleon III. had a high opinion of the Princess, 
and it will have been observed that her personal allowance from 
the civil list was £4000 a year. We believe that she received 
that sum direct because the Prince was extravagantly inclined. 
All his children were favoured by the Emperor and Empress, 
the latter of whom was particularly attached to the tall and 
beautiful Princess Anna, who married the hisch-born but 
diminutive Duke de Mouchy. 

In 1861, after Garibaldi had driven Francis II. from Naples, 
it occurred to Prince Murat that his chance had come, and 
not only were certain letters published in which he asserted a 
claim to the Neapolitan throne, but a ridiculous attempt was 
even made to form a Murat party in Southern Italy. It would 
certainly have failed even if it had not been promptly stopped 
by the intervention of Napoleon III. We do not recall any 
other noteworthy excursion of Prince Murat's into politics 
during the Empire, but the marriages of his younger son and 
his daughter were social events of importance in the eyes of the 
fashionable Paris of that time. On each occasion there was a 
ceremony at the chapel of the Tuileries, and in the case of 
Prince Achille Murat, his bride being of the Greek faith, a 
second and gorgeous one took place at the Russian church 
near the Pare Monceau. Prince Joachim Murat (Achille's 
elder brother) figured very conspicuously at Court. His, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 239 

marriage, in 1854, with the daughter of the Prince de Wagram 
had enhanced his social importance, and he was a soldier of 
some ability, besides being a very handsome one, superb in his 
uniform as Colonel of the Guides — that semi-hussar regiment 
originally formed by Count Fleury. Physically, Prince Joachim 
may not have resembled his grandfather — he certainly displayed 
neither his whiskers nor his mane of curly hair — but he had all 
the dash of a light cavalryman, and this and the picturesqueness 
of his uniform often conjured up a memory of those swift 
squadrons, brave alike in heart and apparel, at whose head the 
great Murat so often swept the legions of the foe from the 
battlefield. 

In his old age, Prince Lucien, the head of the family, led a 
somewhat singular life. His circumstances had been greatly 
reduced by the fall of the Empire, and he had also become very 
unwieldy, gouty, and uncertain on his legs. One evening in 
1876 or 1877 we saw him alight with difficulty from a vehicle 
outside the Paris music-hall known as the Folies-Bergere, and, 
assisted by a valet, enter that house of entertainment and take 
a seat in the stalls. On inquiry, we ascertained that this was 
his practice every evening. He engaged a stall by the month, 
crawled to it with his valefs help night after night, and remained 
till the ballet was over, when, having feasted his eyes on the 
agility of the legs of the danseuses, he once more tried to use 
his own and shuffle out of the house. It was a curious ending 
to a career of many vicissitudes. The Prince died in Paris in 
April, 1878, and less than a year afterwards his devoted wife 
followed him to the grave. 

Her Scotch descent reminds us of the similar origin of 
another connection of the Bonaparte family. This was Lord 
Dudley Coutts Stuart, the eighth son of the first Marquess of 
Bute — in fact, his only son by his second marriage, which was 
with Frances, daughter of Thomas Coutts, the banker. In 1824 
Lord Dudley Stuart married Christiane Egypta Bonaparte, a 
daughter of the first Napoleon's brother Lucien by his marriage 
with Catherine Boyer. The Princess Christiane had divorced 
Prince Arved Posse of Sweden a year before her marriage with 
Lord Dudley Stuart, to whom in 1826 she bore a son, who 
became a captain in the 68th Regiment of Foot, and died at 



210 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Brompton in 1889, leaving, we think, no issue. Both Lord 
Dudley and Captain Dudley Stuart were well known to 
Napoleon IH. The former passed away in 1854, but for some 
years afterwards the latter was invited to the Tuileries and 
Compiegne whenever he came to France. 

It remains for us to say something respecting a Prince who, 

in one or another way, frequently proved himself a thorn in the 

Emperor's side. This was Prince Pierre Napoleon, a younger 

son of the original Lucien Bonaparte. Pierre was a man of 

violent character and particularly pugnacious instincts. In 

1832, when about seventeen years old, he joined his uncle, 

ex-King Joseph of Spain, in the United States, and afterwards 

took service in Columbia under Santander, the Republican 

general. Returning to Italy, he there embroiled himself with 

the Papal authorities, who ordered him to quit the States of 

the Church. This he refused to do, and on the arrival of some 

gendarmes to expel him he resisted and wounded two of them. 

Nevertheless he was apprehended and imprisoned for a time in 

the castle of St. Angelo. On his release he returned to America, 

and was there about the time when, after the Strasburg exploit, 

his cousin the future Napoleon III. was shipped across the 

Atlantic by order of Louis Philippe. However, they saw 

comparatively little of each other at that time, as Pierre's violent 

disposition was in no wise to Louis Napoleon's liking. The 

former, on returning to Europe, sought service in Turkey, fell 

out with some Albanian Palikares, and had to leave the country. 

After the French revolution of 1848 he contrived to secure 

election as a deputy, but he frequently displayed the utmost 

violence in the Assembly, often insulting his colleagues, and on 

one occasion brutally assaulting one of them, a man much older 

than himself. To get rid of this quarrelsome cousin, the Prince 

President at last procured him a commission in the Foreign 

Legion, and sent him to Algeria. He was present at the 

operations against Zaatcha, but again misconducted himself, 

returned to France without leave, and was thereupon cashiered. 

Nevertheless, after the establishment of the Empire Pierre 

Bonaparte was recognized as a Prince of the imperial house, 

included in the Emperor's civil family, and allotted an annual 

civil-list allowance of £4000. He repeatedly applied for an 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY Ml 

official post, but Napoleon III., knowing his disposition, was 
unwilling to give him public employment. Prince Pierre then 
pestered his cousin year after year for loans, advances, and 
extra allowances. At one time he wished the Emperor to buy 
some unproductive property which he owned in Corsica, at 
another he needed money to go shooting in the Ardennes, and 
so forth. 

At last on January 10, 1870, his violent temperament led 
him to the perpetration of a crime which scandalized the whole 
world and shook the Empire severely. He had written some 
heated articles for a Corsican journal, UAvenir^ in reply to 
an attack on the memory of Napoleon I. which had appeared in 
La Revanche, another newspaper of the island, and one which 
represented the democratic party there. The quarrel was taken 
up by a Paris journal. La Marseillaise, the organ of Henri 
Rochefort, who had risen to fame with La Lanterne ; and one 
of La Marseillaise''s contributors. Paschal Grousset — later of 
the Paris Commune, and also one of the founders of the 
Corsican print La Revanche — deeming himself to be insulted 
by the Prince, sent him a challenge. The seconds who carried 
it were Ulrich de Fonvielle, a well-known journalist of the time, 
and a young man of about one and twenty who contributed 
to La Marseillaise under the nom de plume of Victor Noir. 
His real name was Salmon, a contraction of Salomon, and he 
was of Jewish blood. His father had been a watchmaker, and 
he himself a linendraper's assistant before taking to journalism, 
to which he seems to have turned in imitation of his elder 
brother, Louis Noir, who, in course of time, became fairly well 
known as a writer of serial stories. 

On the arrival of Fonvielle and Victor Noir at Prince 
Pierre''s residence in the chief street of the virtually suburban 
district of Auteuil, an unfortunate altercation arose. The 
Prince subsequently alleged that he had been provoked and 
even struck by Noir, but it does not really appear that any 
such blow was dealt. V^^hat is certain is that the Prince refused 
the challenge handed to him, declaring that he would not fight 
M. Grousset, whom he held to be a mere subordinate of Roche- 
forfs, and, according to Fonvielle's account, he added : " I 
challenged Rochefort because he is the champion of la crapide 



242 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

[i.e. the lowest of the low]. As for M. Grousset, I have nothing 
to say to him. Are you jointly responsible for those carrion ?'''' 
"Sir," replied Fonvielle, "we have come here loyally and 
courteously to fulfil the commission entrusted to us by our 
friend." " Do you accept responsibility for those scoundrels ? " 
the Prince reiterated. " We are responsible for our friends," 
answered Noir. Thereupon Prince Pierre, suddenly stepping 
forward, drew a revolver from his pocket and fired at Noir, 
who, pressing both hands to his breast, staggered back through 
the doorway by which he and Fonvielle had entered the room. 
Fonvielle, according to his own account, would also have been 
shot had he not produced a pistol, which momentarily checked 
the Prince. As it happened, the latter fired after him without 
effect as he was escaping into the street, where he found Noir, 
who had mustered sufficient strength to descend the stairs, but 
was now near death — the Prince's bullet having injured his 
heart and entered his lungs. He soon afterwards expired in a 
chemist's shop. 

The sensation which the affair created was profound, and 
serious were the troubles in which it involved the Government. 
There were tumultuous scenes at Noir's funeral, the democratic 
agitation grew apace, and but for the strength and vigilance of 
the police and the military, Revolution might have broken out 
in Paris. Prince Pierre was arrested — so also was Fonvielle — 
lodged in the Conciergerie, and finally sent for trial before the 
High Court of Justice assembled at Tours. That tribunal, as 
its composition foreshadowed, contrived to acquit him, but not 
even in the days of the Dreyfus case was res judicata more 
liable to criticism.* At the same time, outside the ranks of the 
extreme anti-dynastic party, there were not wanting people who 
expressed sympathy with the Emperor on account of the trouble 
in which he was involved by members of his family — trouble 
brought to a climax by the impetuous violence of that " Corsican 
wild boar," as Prince Pierre was not unaptly called. 

The Prince's matrimonial entano-lement had also long been 
a source of some annoyance to Napoleon III. On March 22, 
1853, he had contracted in , Paris a morganatic marriage 

* The Prince, though, acquitted of murder, was sentenced to pay £1000 as 
compensation to the Nori family. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 243 

(a religious ceremony alone being performed) with a person of 
modest condition named Justine Eleonore RufRn, who, having 
been born in 1832, was seventeen years younger than himself. 
Under the circumstances she was not received at Court, where 
by the way, the Prince himself seldom put in an appearance ; 
and although, at the time of the Noir affair in 1870, the news- 
papers generally alluded to her as the " Princess Pierre," it is a 
question (having regard to the family discipline of the imperial 
house) whether she then had any real right to the title, not- 
withstanding the fact that the Prince had married her a second 
time, on October 2, 1867, at La Cuisine, in the Florenville 
canton of Belgian Luxemburg. That marriage legitimated the 
childi-en of the union, a boy and girl, in Belgium, but not, 
apparently, in France, for after the fall of the Empire Prince 
Pierre (to whom we would give all possible credit for stead- 
fastness in his affections) married Mile. Ruffin yet a third time 
— that is, at the French Legation at Brussels on November 11, 
1871. The private decisions and enactments of the Imperial 
Family Council respecting the marriages of the Bonaparte 
Princes were then null and void ; and Pierre Bonaparte''s wife 
fully acquired by this last union a right to style herself Princess, 
while, in accordance with the common law of France, her 
children undoubtedly became legitimate there, with a right to 
the titles of Prince and Princess — though without the qualification 
of either Imperial Highness or Highness.* 

The son of the union, Prince Roland Napoleon Bonaparte, 
was born in Paris on May 19, 1858. Educated for the military 
profession, he served at one time in the army of the present 
Republic, holding a commission in the 36th Regiment of the 
Line ; but in later years he took, with infinite credit to him- 
self, to serious scientific pursuits. He married, in November, 
1880, Mile. Marie Felice Blanc, daughter of Franpois Blanc, 
the millionaire founder of the famous gaming tables of Monte 
Carlo. The wedding was the occasion of a great mustering of 
the French imperialist party. The Prince''s mother was present, 

* In the case of French citizens, those qualifications are not recognized by 
French law any more than is that of Excellency, formerly used in addressing 
French Ministers of State and Ambassadors. Nevertheless, it is occasionally 
given, in courtesy, by foreigners to the French envoys abroad. 



244 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Ave remember ; but his father, who by reason of his antecedents 
would scarcely have been persona grata in that assemblage, did 
not attend.* It was currently reported at the time that in 
addition to a mansion in Paris and a palace in Italy, the bride 
had brought her husband a million sterling. The union was, 
unfortunately, brief; Princess Roland died at St. Cloud in 
1882, some four weeks after giving birth to a daughter, 
Princess Marie. 

Prince Roland's sister, Princess Jeanne, was born on 
September 25, 1861, at UAbbaye-d'Orval, in Belgian Luxem- 
burg, and in 1882 she married Christian, Marquis de Villeneuve, 
a former deputy for Corsica, whom, in course of years, she 
presented with two sons and four daughters. 

* Prince Pierre Bonaparte died at Versailles, in April, 1881, 



CHAPTER X 

BANQUETS, BALLS, AND OTHER COURT FESTIVITIES — 
THE GREAT YEAR, 1867 

Family Dinners at the Tuileries— The Grand Surtout— The services of Plate, 
China, and Glass — The Losses and Breakages— Halliard's curious Reports 
— The Curee of the Liberal Empire — Maillard at the Revolution — Dupuy, 
the chief Comptroller of the Table— The Maitres d'Hotel— Benoit, the 
Head Cook and his Assistants — Composition of the Kitchen Service — Table 
and Kitchen Salaries — State and other Dinners at the Tuileries — The 
Dinner of the Beauties — The Palace Receptions — The great Balls — The 
Empress's Mondays— Masked and Fancy-dress Balls of the Reign — 
The Ballet of the Bees — Strange Costumes at Court— The Pageant of the 
World— A Triumph of American Beauty— Some of Mme. de Metternich's 
Pleasantries— A Jockey Club Ball— One of the Emperor's Riddles— Home 
the Medium at Court and afterwards— Some Parisian Festivities— The 
Great Year 1867— A Political Survey— All the Sovereigns in Paris— The 
Attempt on the Czar— The Shooting of Maximilian— The Year ends 
ominously. 

Every Monday when the Court was at the Tuileries there was a 
family dinner there, which certain Princes, Princesses, and other 
connections of the imperial house usually attended when they 
were in Paris. In the first years of the reign this dinner took 
place on Sundays, but as the Emperor often had to devote several 
hours to audiences on Sunday afternoons, and afterwards felt 
tired, Monday finally prevailed as the day for the dinner. Those 
who usually attended the family dinners were Prince Jerome (with 
an aide-de-camp) whenever his health allowed. Prince Napoleon 
(also with an aide-de-camp, but not during his hrouilleries with 
the Emperor), Princess Clotilde (with a lady of honour), Princess 
Mathilde (with a lady in waiting and her chevalier dlionneur), 
Prince and Princess Murat, Prince and Princess Joachim 
Murat, the Duke and Duchess de Mouchy, Prince and Princess 
Gabrielli, Marquis and Marchioqess Roccagiovine, Cqunt and 



246 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Countess Primoli, and the Duke and Duchess de Cambaceres, 
as well as the Colonel of the Cent-Gardes, and the officers and 
ladies in attendance that day on the Emperor and Empress. 
The guests were received in the Empress"'s private apartments, 
and at table Princess Clotilde invariably sat on the Emperor's 
right hand and Princess Mathilde on his left ; while to the 
Empress''s right was Prince Jerome or Prince Napoleon, and to 
her left either the last-named or Prince Murat. The menus of 
these dinners did not differ much from those of ordinary days, 
but silver-gilt plate and fine Sevres porcelain appeared on 
the table. 

The " Grand Surtout de Table," in the execution of which 
eight skilful artists had co-operated under the direction of 
Messrs. Christofle, included four principal pieces, partly cast, 
partly ciseles, and in a few respects of galvanic work. The 
centre-piece represented France, standing between allegorical 
figures of religion, justice, concord, and strength, and distribut- 
ing crowns both to the glory of war and to the glory of peace. 
The former was represented by a warrior urging on the four 
fiery steeds of his chariot, the latter by a woman whose car was 
drawn by four quiet oxen. There were also four large cups 
with figures typifying the north, east, west, and south of France, 
and four candelabra with figures emblematical of science, art, 
industry, and agriculture, together with ten dishes of Sevres 
porcelain mounted on stands of silvered bronze. All the plate 
displayed the finest chiselled repousse work, and the surtout 
was altogether very remarkable. When the question of 
ordering it arose early in the reign, it was suggested to the 
Emperor that it ought to be of massive silver, but he rejected 
the idea, saying, with a smile, that one never knew what vicissi- 
tudes history might bring in its train, and that, if the surtout 
should be of massive precious metal, somebody might be 
tempted some day to have it melted down. He desired a fine 
work of comparatively small intrinsic value, which might be 
preserved for the sake of its artistic merit and not destroyed 
for the sake of its substance. His wishes were respected, and 
it so happened that in later years, the principal pieces, after 
being somewhat badly damaged in the conflagration of the 
Tuileries, but repaired by Messrs. Christofle, were sent to the 



COURT FESTIVITIES 247 

Musee des Arts decoratifs as splendid examples of the art to 
which they belonged. 

The plate at the Tuileries also comprised four dinner 
services ; first, a silver one of a hundred covers decorated 
with the imperial eagle, and known accordingly ; next a silver- 
gilt service of forty covers, which was the one used at the 
family dinners and at those attended by foreign royalties ; next 
an elegant silver forty-cover Louis XVI. service, which was 
used on ordinary occasions ; and, finally, a silver service by 
Froment-Meurice, in which all the tureen and dish covers 
were surmounted by finely-chiselled nahires mortes : pheasants, 
partridges, hares, turkeys, fowls, vegetables of various kinds, 
and so forth. There was also a dessert service of vermeil with 
the eagle and crown in relief on every piece. All the plate, 
china, and glass were in the keeping of an official named 
Maillard, who was lodged in the palace and received a salary 
of £%'^0 a year. To him also the table-linen was delivered by 
the Lingerie imperiale, according to the quantity he speci- 
fied. On the occasion of a great ball at the palace (a ball, 
of course, meant supper) he would apply for a hundred and 
twenty table-cloths, and a hundred and thirty dozens of nap- 
kins, that is sufficient for about one thousand five hundred 
people. 

The porcelain in M. Maillard's charge was chiefly Sevres. 
The plates, dishes, and stands of the finest dessert service had 
borders of a light grey with arabesque work in gold. Land- 
scapes with figures were painted in the centre of the plates, the 
actual cost of production of each of which was £\%. There 
Avas next a service with the well-known Sevres-blue border, 
golden arabesque work and golden stars spangling the plates. 
The third service was of white Sevres, with golden bands and 
the imperial crown and monogram in the centre of the pieces. 
Sets of soup-plates were adjoined to each of the services we have 
described. For the ball suppers there was a very large service 
of a good quality of " commercial china," decorated in the same 
style as the white Sevres set. The glass comprised a service 
in verre mousseline with engraved and gilded monograms and 
bands, this being used in conjunction with the vermeil plate , 
next a larger and simpler set decorated in corresponding style ; 



248 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

and a third and yet larger one, engraved without gilding. This 
last was used at the ball suppers. 

M. Maillard, who had immediate charge of all those things, 
was, according to every account, a painstaking, orderly, and 
reliable man, but the loss and breakage, particularly during the 
last year of the Empire, was very large, and more than once the 
" Chef de FArgenterie " tore his hair in despair. Here is a 
report of his, addressed to the Adjutant-general of the Tuileries 
about the time of the declaration of the Franco-German War : 

" General, — There are the following deficiencies in the linen used at 
the balls : — 



Ball of January 16 


26 


napkins. 


.. 80 ... 


22 




,, February 13 


27 




>} >> 27 


21 




„ May 18 ... 


28 




,, June 10 


40 





^'^ Every possible search and endeavour has been made to find them, 
but has yielded no result, and it is at the last extremity. General, that I 
make this declaration of the loss." 

On April 1, 1870, moreover, Maillard is found reporting 
that the breakages at recent palace dinners and ball suppers 
have amounted to no less than 474 pieces of china (plates, 
cups, etc.) and 183 pieces of glass. The period, it will be 
remembered, was that of Emile Ollivier's brief spell of power, 
when, while the democratic revolutionaries were howling and 
demonstrating at the Belleville public meetings, a motley crew of 
new parliamentarians, who claimed to support the " reformed "" 
regime^ rushed upon the Tuileries to feast and enjoy themselves 
at the imperial expense. It was again a Curee, not that of the 
Coup d'Etat, but that of L'Empire Liberal. Those who had 
participated in the earlier Curee may have been men of little 
principle, but, with few exceptions, they were possessed of 
manners ; whereas those of the last Cw^ee, whatever might be 
their moral value, had no manners at all. While their leader, 
Ollivier, beamed on them benignly from behind his glasses, they 
smashed the china of the Tuileries and carried off the napkins 
in their pockets. When an Irish peer, who strayed into one 
of those last entertainments at the palace, was asked his opinion 



COURT FESTIVITIES 249 

of it, he replied, " Oh, Donny brook Fair — only more so ! "" The 
disorder, the lack of propriety, the loud, vulgar criticism, the 
mobbing of the Emperor and Empress, the scrambling for 
supper, the jeering laughter when anything was damaged or 
broken — all those little incidents were premonitory signs of the 
approaching debacle. 

When the Revolution came at last, Maillard inserted a final 
and pathetic little entry in his register: — "September 4, 1870. 
Her Majesty the Empress left at half-past one, by way of the 
Palace of the Louvre. All the personnel left about four o''clock 
in the afternoon after the occupation of the Palace of the 
Tuileries by the National Guards. They wrote up, ' Death to 
Thieves,' on all sides. I have been unable to put things away 
in their proper places ; they have not allowed me time to do 
so." That cri du cceur of a good servant will appeal to us all, 
whatever opinion we may entertain of the Empire. 

The chief Comptroller of the Service de Bouche, or Table 
Service, was M. Dupuy, son of an employe in the household of 
Charles X. He had served the Duchess of Orleans as a maitre 
d'Jiotel, and was chosen in 1848 to co-operate in the organization 
of the Prince President's household. In a gold-laced coat, with 
a cocked hat under his arm and a sword at his side, Dupuy 
attended all the official dinners and fetes, exercising a Avatchful 
supervision over everything. Subsequent to the fall of the 
Empire, Thiers, on becoming Chief of the Executive Power, 
also employed Dupuy to organize his household. At the 
Tuileries there were two sub-comptrollers under Dupuy, and, 
subject to the instructions of the Adjutant-general, he was 
supreme over tlie table, pantry, plate, and cellar services. 

There were four chief maitres dliotel at the palace, two for 
the Emperor, one for the Empress, and one for the Imperial 
Prince. Next there were four table-layers, and two principal 
carvers, one of the latter having been cook to the Prince de 
Joinville on his voyage to St. Helena to fetch the remains of 
Napoleon I. When there were many guests at table a certain 
number of ushers and valets-de-chamhx served as additional 
maitres d''h6tel. Felix, the Emperor's chief usher, always carved 
for him personally. The ordinary uniforms, or liveries, of the 
vialtres (rhotel were of brown cloth, with velvet collars, and 



250 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

gold eagle buttons ; but on gala occasions these table officers 
appeared in sky-blue habits a lafran(^aise, with tails lined with 
white satin, collars embroidered with white silk, bright cut- 
steel buttons, white waistcoats, black silk breeches, white silk 
stockings, and shoes with silver buckles. Swords in white scab- 
bards dangled beside them, and cocked hats with black plumes 
and steel galoon-work were carried under their arms. 

M. Benoit, the head cook of the palace, had previously 
served the Duke de Noailles. He entered the imperial house- 
hold as successor to an Englishman, Evans, whose cookery, 
perhaps, may have inclined Napoleon HI. to the plain sub- 
stantial fare which he preferred during the last five-and-twenty 
years of his life. Under M. Benoit Avere two sous-chefs^ Meurice, 
who, like Evans, had served the Emperor in England, and 
Brot, who had held a post in Louis -Philippe''s kitchen. The 
kitchen service further included : — 



1 chief larder-man 


with 6 assistants, 


1 „ roaster 


» 4 




1 ,, sauce cook 


„ 4 




1 „ stewer 


" I 




1 „ e7itremets cook 


» 3 




1 ,, pastrycook 


., 6 




1 general cook 


„ 4 




6 kitchen men. 







All roasting was done at wood fires, and all grilling and frying 
were included in the roasting service. The pantry department 
comprised a chef, sous-chef and twelve assistants. Maillard, who 
really belonged to this section of the household, had sixteen 
assistants under him. Further, there was the cellar service 
under M. Boule, with six assistants. Every day dinner was 
served at the Tuileries for 130 domestics, inclusive of the 
kitchen, pantry, and cellar services. The menus comprised 
soup, three dishes of meat, inclusive of fish, one of vegetables, 
and dessert, with a half-bottle of vin ordinaire for each man. 

The principal salaries of the table, kitchen, and pantry 
services were as follows : — 

Classes. Amounts per annum. 

Chief comptroller (Dupuy) ... ... ... £400 

Sub-comptrollers with rent money ... ... 254 

Empress's maitre cVhotel 120 



COURT FESTIVITIES 251 

Classps. Amounts per annum. 

MoAtres dliotel with rent money £112 

Table-layers ... ... ... ... ••• 72 

Carvers ... ... ... ... ... ••• ^0 

Head cook (Benoit) 200 

Assistant c/ie/s ... ... ... ... ••• 120 

Chief larder-man ... ... ... .-• ... 72 

Assistants from £48 to 56 

Chief roaster 60 

Assistants from £40 to 48 

Chief sauce-cook ... ... ... ... ••• 60 

Assistants 48 

Chief pastrycook ... 56 

Assistants ... ... 48 

General cook ... ... ... ... ... 60 

Assistants • ... ... ... ... ••• 48 

All the empIo7/es of the table-service, and indeed all domestics 
of the household, received as a New Year's gift double wages 
each time that the month of January came round. It was 
known to them as " the Emperor's month." The extra pay- 
ments in question are not included in the above list. It should 
further be mentioned that all servants who did not sleep at 
the palace received allowances for rent, varying from £8 to 
£12 a year — a small sum, it should be said, when one remembers 
how largely rents increased in Paris under the Empire owing 
to the Haussmanization of the city. 

Every morning the heads of the various departments 
presented their reports to the Adjutant-general of the Palace, 
to whom the chief cook also submitted menus for the meals of 
the following day. Besides the table of the Emperor and 
Empress, several others had to be served — for instance that of 
General Rolin, which included six covers, that of Madame 
Pollet, also of six covers, that of Bure, the Crown treasurer, 
that of Pietri, the Emperor's secretary, that of Thelin, of the 
Privy Purse, that of Dupuy, the chief comptroller, etc. Every 
year, early in January, a grand dinner was offered to the 
principal officers of the household and their wives. A little 
later came the so-called Dinner of the Marshals, which the War 
Minister, and the general officers holding great commands like- 
wise attended. Next there was a grand dinner given to the 
ministers in office and their wives, followed by dinners to the 



252 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

senators, the councillors of state, the chief judges, the deputies, 
the head officials of charitable societies under the imperial 
patronage, and so forth. Each of those repasts was a banquet 
of from sixty to one hundred and thirty covers, the wives of those 
male guests who were married men being invariably included 
in the invitations. At that time, indeed. Frenchmen seldom 
if ever herded together by themselves to gorge and guzzle 
a VAnglaise. They did not think of sitting down to table 
without the company of ladies, but in these Republican days 
they have become infected with English egotism, and the 
exclusion of women, which once would have been regarded as a 
gross insult to the fair sex is now considered a mere matter 
of course in Paris. 

On arriving at the Tuileries for one of the grand dinners, 
the gentlemen ranged themselves in a row on one side of the 
salon where they awaited the coming of the Emperor and 
Empress. The ladies formed another row on the other side, 
and the sovereigns passed down those lines of guests, who were 
presented to them in turn by the chamberlains and ladies of 
honour. It was the Prefect of the Palace who allotted the 
seats at the table, in accordance with a list which had been 
previously submitted to the Emperor. One of the bands of the 
Imperial Guard usually played during the repast. At a grand 
dinner of an average number of covers there would be about 
thirty large silver candelabra on the huge horseshoe table, as 
well as numerous plants in vases, baskets of flowers, and some 
six dozen dessert stands and dishes. The menu generally com- 
prised a choice of two soups, two dishes of fish, eight entrees, 
three or four roasts, four sorts of vegetables, and half a dozen 
different entremets, together with a succession of fine wines. 

Somewhat late in the reign the Empress secured the services 
of a young African attendant, who was generally called her 
Abyssinian page, though we believe that he came from the 
Egyptian Soudan, and had been brought or sent to Paris by 
M. de Lesseps. The young fellow answered to the name of 
Scander, and at grand dinners he usually stood behind the 
Empress'^s chair, garbed in splendid brocade, in a semi- Venetian, 
semi-Oriental style. But although Scander helped to enhance 
the decorative aspect of the banquets, he was by no means a 



COURT FESTIVITIES 253 

satisfactory servant, for he only obeyed orders when he felt 
inclined to do so, and was often insolent with other domestics. 
What became of him we cannot say, but we think that he was 
no longer at the Tuileries at the Revolution. 

One of the most memorable of the palace banquets was that 
given after the Crimean War, when the Emperor, suddenly 
rising from his chair, raised his glass and exclaimed : " Gentle- 
men, I drink to the health of two men whom I hold in the 
highest esteem — Marshal Canrobert and Marshal Bosquet." 
There had been no previous indication that the Emperor 
intended to raise those officers to the highest rank in the 
army, and the surprise at the announcement was very great. 
Canrobert expressed his gratitude in his usual effusive way ; 
while Bosquet, a grave, taciturn man, who, unhappily, had 
already contracted the pulmonary complaint which carried him 
off betimes, said merely a few words, and then despatched a 
telegram to his mother. Another very interesting Tuileries 
dinner was offered by the Empress to the Emperor in fulfilment 
of a wager she had lost. It has passed virtually into history as 
the Dinner of the Twenty Beauties, the invitations being con- 
fined, so far as the ladies were concerned, to the most beautiful 
women whom the Empress could find in her Court. They 
included ten Frenchwomen : the Duchesses de Persigny, de 
Cadore, and de Montmorency, the Marchionesses de Canizy and 
de Las Marismas, the Countesses de Pourtales and de Monte- 
bello, and the Baronesses de Bourgoing and de Pierrebourg. 
There were also two Russians, the Duchess de Morny and 
Mme. Leopold Magnan ; two Italians, the Countess Walewska 
and Mme. Bartholoni ; a Jewess, the Baroness Alphonse de 
Rothschild ; a Scotchwoman, the Marechale Canrobert ; a 
Creole, the Marchioness de Chasseloup-Laubat ; together with 
the Princess Anna Murat, a semi-American, the Marchioness de 
Galliffet, a semi-Englishwoman, and the Princess de Metternich, 
a Hungarian, who, of course, was included less for the beauty 
of her person than for that of her esprit. Finally, the Empress 
lierself, who was a Spaniard, completed the score. 

As a rule the grand dinners at the Tuileries were followed 
by receptions, often open ones so far as officials and their wives 
were concerned. At certain periods of the year came solemn 



254 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

State receptions. Each 1st of January, for instance, there was 
an imposing gathering of the Corps Diplomatique and all 
the chief services of the Administration. Napoleon III. then 
often delivered himself of those oracular pronouncements on 
European affairs which alternately alarmed or tranquillized the 
world. Further, he generally contrived to be at the Tuileries 
on St. Napoleon"'s Day, August 15, to receive congratulations ; 
and, again, at the opening and closing of legislative sessions 
there were usually gatherings of senators and deputies to hear 
the speeches from the throne. On those occasions, as at the 
concerts during Lent, light refreshments, such as tea, ices, 
sorbets, coffee and pastry, were offered to the company. 

The balls were of various kinds — first the great State balls, 
then the masked and fancy ones, then the smaller Monday 
balls given by the Empress, and finally the children's balls in 
honour of the Imperial Prince. Paris danced in those days — 
on a volcano, if you like, but none the less right merrily. 
Public dancing halls were scattered all over the city, from the 
Quartier Latin to the haunts of the rag-pickers. With each 
ensuing Carnival there came numerous masked balls, not only 
at the Opera house and a score of other public establishments, 
but also at the palace itself, and at one and another ministry 
and embassy. Even clubs, like the Jockey and the Union, gave 
balls of that description in those days. Then, too, the balls of 
the Hotel de Ville were famous ; and although the noble 
Faubourg St. Germain, the abode of the Legitimist society, was 
supposed to be sulking because the Count de Chambord was not 
upon the throne, some splendid entertainments were given from 
time to time in its spacious drawing-rooms ; while in the 
Bonapartist districts of Monceau, Beaujon, the Champs Elysees, 
and the Faubourg St. Honore, fete followed fete throughout 
the Paris season. 

On the nights of a great ball at the Tuileries the Place du 
Carrousel was illumined by the huge bonfires lighted there for 
the benefit of the many waiting carriage-servants, and by the 
blaze streaming from all the first-floor windows of the palace, 
from the Salle des Travees to the Galerie de Diane. Up 
the grand staircase went the guests, past the motionless 
Cent-Gardes in their resplendent uniforms. The Emperor and 



COURT FESTIVITIES S55 

Empress received the Diplomatic Body and other prominent 
personages in the Salon Louis XIV., under the picture which 
showed the Grand Monarque designating the Duke d'Anjou to 
the Spanish envoys, and saying to them, " Gentlemen, here is 
your King." The Emperor wore the uniform of a general, with 
the ribbon and star of the Legion of Honour on his breast, the 
Empress was in silk and lace, with a diadem on her head, the 
" Regent " on her bosom, and a belt of brilliants around her 
waist. The presentations over, the imperial cortege was formed, 
the officers of the Cent-Gardes opening the march, while in 
attendance were all the splendidly attired state and court 
officials. Their breeches and stockings were uniformly of white 
silk, but the coats of the masters of ceremonies were violet and 
gold, those of the prefects of the palace amaranth and gold, 
those of the chamberlains scarlet and gold, those of the equerries 
green and gold, those of the orderlies pale blue and silver, and 
those of the officers of the hunt green and silver. Then the 
aides-de-camp were in full military uniform ; and there was also 
the army of domestics — the ushers in brown and gold, the 
footmen in green and gold and scarlet, and the beadles or 
Suisses with plumed hats and broad red baldricks embroidered 
with imperial eagles. In the train, too, of the Sovereigns were 
Princes and Princesses of their house, foreign Ambassadors and 
envoys. Marshals of France, the Presidents of the Senate and 
the Legislative Body, and other high and mighty personages in 
more or less splendid uniforms, with ribbons and stars and 
crosses galore. 

Through the Salle du Trone, the Salon d'Apollon, and the 
Salon du Premier Consul went the pompous procession, the 
Empress with glittering eyes and smiling lips, the Emperor with 
his far-away or his moody look, and the usual occasional twirl 
of his moustache. As they reached the entrance of the Salle 
des Marechaux, the chief usher cried aloud, " The Emperor ! 
The Empress ! " The Cent-Gardes at the door stood at 
attention, and the beadles stationed there struck the floor 
with their staves, and repeated the cry, " The Emperor ! The 
Empress ! " Whereupon, passing between the hangings of gold 
and crimson, their Majesties entered the huge, lofty hall, 
where the great chandelier and the many tall candelabra cast 



256 THE COURT OF THE TUlLERlES 

the most brilliant light over the wonderful assemblage of 
uniforms, court coats, fair shoulders, jewels, and gowns of well- 
nigh every hue. The orchestra struck up " Partant pour la 
Syrie " while down the hall, past the life-size portraits of the 
mighty marshals and the many busts of distinguished generals, 
their Majesties went towards a raised platform where chairs of 
state were set. When they had taken their seats the dancing 
began. 

In the earlier years of the reign there was always a quadrille 
cfJionneur^ in which the Emperor and Empress, Princess 
Mathilde, Prince Napoleon, and Princess Clotilde participated, 
with, at times, Morny or Walewski. The last named was a 
born dancer (dancing, in his time, was considered a necessary 
accomplishment in the diplomatic profession), and it Avas with 
a very courtly grace that he went through the steps of a 
cavalier seul.^ Foreign royalties, when any were present, and 
certain foreign ambassadors also participated in the quadrille 
d''ho7ineur ; but in the later years of the Empire — if we except 
1867, when Paris was crowded with crowned heads — the 
Emperor and Empress seldom, if ever, danced. After a time 
they quitted their seats on the raised platform and strolled 
through the various rooms, watching the evolutions of their 
guests or chatting with one or another of them. There were 
always at least two orchestras, one in the Salle des Marechaux, 
another in the Galerie de la Paix. Waldteufel and Strauss 
(not Johann) conducted, and the music varied according to 
the fashion of the time. From the earlier Viennese waltzes one 
came to " II Bacio," and then to the dance airs of " La Belle 
Helene," "La Grande Duchesse," and " Chilperic."" 

The scene in the Salle des Marechaux was a dazzling one 
on the night of a great ball. Stands were sometimes ranged 
around it for the convenience of the great throng of onlookers. 
It was the fashion, too, for lovers to make appointments under 
the portrait of one or another marshal. When some enamou>red 
young man of position learnt that the lady of his heart would 
be at the next Tuileries ball, he would say to her : " Be under 

* Even Bismarck could waltz, and it was at the Tuileries, in 1867, and in 
his " White Cuirassier " uniform, that he waltzed for the last time. His 
partner was the beautiful Mme. Carette. He was then in his fifty-third year. 



COUllT FESTIVITIES 257 

Augereau, or Massena, or Berthier, at midnight." That witch- 
ing hour was the favourite one for such assignations, as it was 
also the supper-hour when the imperial party quitted the 
scene and the dancing flagged. Love, of course, was in no 
hurry to go to supper; and, besides, from the opening till 
the close of the ball a refreshment buffet was installed in the 
Salle des Travdes — a buffet at which ices, sorbets, tea, coffee, 
claret-cup, lemonade, syrups, pastry, and cakes were freely 
dispensed, the Service de Bouche providing 1000 cups and 
saucers and like numbers of ice-glasses, coffee-glasses and 
tumblers. On an average, 8000 ices and from 150 to 200 
gallons of liquid refreshment were consumed at a grand ball, 
the lemonade and syrups being prepared in earthen pitchers, 
which kept them delightfully cool. Supper was served in the 
Galerie de Diane, first for the Emperor, the Empress, their family, 
the Corps diplomatique and other important guests, others 
being admitted afterwards in batches of about one hundred at 
a time, when the chamberlains and other officials zealously gave 
preference to ladies. It was a standing supper, served at 
a huge buffet decorated with the grand surtout and other 
ornamental plate. At one of the fetes offered to foreign 
sovereigns in 1867, the guests were so numerous that the 
palace playhouse had to be turned into a supper-room. At the 
Empress's pg^ife hols, for which only some 600 invitations were 
issued (whereas there were often 3000 to a grand ball) the 
guests took supper seated at thirty tables in the Galerie de la 
Paix and the Salon Louis XIV. 

Those petits hols, which were given on Monday evenings, 
and therefore became known as the Empress's Mondays, were 
far more enjoyable than the State affairs. The ladies were as 
bravely arrayed as ever, but the men, the Emperor included, 
wore merely evening dress, with knee-breeches, no uniforms 
being displayed. The guests, on arriving at the palace, went 
straight to the Empress's apartments, whence they proceeded 
to the Salon d'Apollon and the Salon du Premier Consul, in 
the last of which the orchestra was stationed under a portrait 
of Napoleon I., which gave the room its name — a remarkable 
portrait, by the way, lost unfortunately in the conflagration 
of 1871. The young Consul of France appeared in it with a 



S58 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

fine classical profile, and long hair falling over the collar of 
a red uniform, as he passed on horseback before a veteran 
grenadier, who presented arms to him.* 

At the petits hals it was chiefly in that Salon du Premier 
Consul that dancing took place, but before it began the Empress 
entered the room in State, preceded by the officers of her 
Household and attended by her ladies-in-waiting. The lady 
guests were drawn up on either side, with the gentlemen behind 
them, but once this review was over, there was no further 
formality. The Emperor, for his part, slipped into the rooms 
without ceremony, as his wife's private guest. She, as a rule, 
did not dance at those Monday gatherings, but flitted for 
a while about the salons, and then retired to her private 
apartments, with one or two foreign diplomatists or other per- 
sonages, until the time came for the cotillon, which she always 
witnessed. We mentioned in an earlier chapter that the 
cotillon was led for several seasons by that smart, curly-haired 
equerry (who, to the disgust of others, would ride a Tanglaise, 
and not in French military fashion), the Marquis de Caux, 
Madame Patti's first husband. After his marriage, there was 
no conducteur attitre of the cotillon, but the Empress personally 
designated one or another younger guest for the duty. One night 
her choice fell on an Englishman, Mr. Hubert Jerningham,t 
who, although confronted by the most critical Parisian audience 
that could have been collected together, acquitted himself right 
brilliantly of the task. 

During the earlier years of the Empire, Carnival time was 
always celebrated at the Tuileries by a grand fancy-dress ball — 
at times a masked one. Abbe Deguerry, of the Madeleine, did 
not object so much to fancy costumes, but he did seriously 
object to masks, as they allowed, said he, of a good deal of 
impropriety which would not otherwise take place. Accordingly, 
he did not hesitate to censure the practice of masking, even 
denouncing it in a sermon which he preached before the 

* The composition undoubtedly inspired that of Miiller's equestrian 
portrait of Napoleon III. In this a grenadier of the Second Empire was 
shown presenting arms to the Emperor as he rode under the entrance arch of 
the Tuileries. It was a good painting, of both artistic and historical value. 

t Later Sir Hubert, and Governor of Mauritius— a far cry from the 
Tuileries. 



COURT FESTIVITIES 259 

Emperor and Empress. As it happened, in the last years of 
the reign the fancy balls were mostly given for the entertain- 
ment of the Imperial Prince and his young friends — that is, 
they became children's parties, at which the little Prince figured, 
now in the revolutionary character of Massaniello, now as a 
juvenile mediasval knight wearing chain armour. At an earlier 
period, however, when those balls were reserved to " grown-ups," 
the Emperor (who in his younger days had figured as a 
troubadour at the Eglinton tournament) frequently assumed 
fancy dress — swathing himself in an Arab burnous, or else 
displaying a cfSOO " costume Henri II.," with a short mantle 
hanging from his shoulder and a rapier at his side. At one 
ball of the time the Empress was seen in her favourite 
character, that of Marie Antoinette,* at another as a Titian- 
esque patrician lady of Venice — her costume then being of 
crimson and black, spangled with sequins interspersed with 
diamonds. The fete on that occasion (March, 1863) was 
remarkably brilliant. The Emperor, in order to be in keep- 
ing with his consort, had also donned a Venetian costume, 
white and crimson. Princess Mathilde represented Anne of 
Cleves, after Holbein's picture at the Louvre, while Princess 
Clotilde wore gold brocade, after a figure in a painting by 
Paul Veronese. The Duchess de Persigny, whose hot temper 
was notorious, appeared, appropriately enough, as Fire ; Mme. 
Alphonse de Rothschild was a bird of paradise, and the 
Countess Aguado a pack of cards, while the Princess de Metter- 
nich flaunted the attire of an " Incroyable " of the Directory. 
The most startling costume, however, was that of La Castiglione, 
who came as Flaubert's Salammbo, with her marvellous hair 
streaming around her, a golden diadem circling her brow, her 
bosom virtually as bare as her arms, and her feet likewise bare, 
in golden sandals. V^^ith one hand, the Count de Choiseul, 
who impersonated a negro, upheld her train of some gossamer- 
like fabric, while with the other he bore aloft a strange antique- 
looking parasol, such as might have been used, indeed, to shade 
some beauty of olden Carthage. 

The great entertainment of that evening had been devised 
by Countess Stephanie Tascher de la Pagerie, who, for all her 

* See ante, p. 201. 



260 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

services in matters of that kind, ought to have been appointed 
" Directrice des Menus Plaisirs." Her invention on the occasion 
we refer to, was the famous " Ballet of the Bees," for which 
Merante, the ballet-master of the Opera, had trained twelve 
of the most beautiful and ablest dancers of the Court. At a 
given signal four huge beehives, festooned with flowers, were 
carried on litters into the Salle des Marechaux by servants 
attired as seventeenth-century gardeners. As soon as the hives 
were set in position and the first strains of the orchestra sounded, 
three beautiful women, winged and wearing short-skirted 
costumes, which simulated as closely as possible the appearance 
of bees, emerged from each hive, carrying garlands of violets. 
Among the ladies were Princess Lise Troubetskoi, Mile. 
de Nelidoff, Mme. Leopold Magnan, Baroness Molitor, and 
Mme. Brincard ; and again and again, with a skill rivalling 
that of professional dancers, they executed the various charming 
and difficult terpsichorean feats which Merante and the 
Countess Stephanie had assigned to them. The very nature of 
the ballet was, of course, a clever compliment to the Emperor, 
who, with the Empress, sat on his throne admiring and 
applauding it, for the bee is the family emblem of the 
Bonapartes and the violet their chosen flower. 

Another year, the Countess Stephanie planned a different 
entertainment — a gipsy quadrille, with her brother, the ugly 
chamberlain. Count Charles,* as the gipsy king, and a number 
of ladies and gentlemen of title as his subjects. At other 
times still stranger figures appeared at the Tuileries masked 
balls. A gigantic flageolet, which careered about the rooms in 
eccentric fashion, turned out to be the gallant Marquis de 
Galliffet, a horrid-looking black devil proved to be the beautiful 
Baroness Alphonse de Rothschild, an obelisk was none other 
than a very tall officer of the Cent-Gardes ; while a quartette 
of four sphinxes, who propounded impossible riddles, was found 
to consist of the Duchess dTsly, the Marechale Canrobert, 
Countess Fleury, and Baroness de Bourgoing. 

* He is often alluded to by the memoir writers as " Duke Tascher de la 
Pagerie," and was so styled occasionally by his contemporaries ; but, in point 
of fact, his ducal title was the Bavarian one of Waldburg, which the Emperor 
allowed him to assume. 



COURT FESTIVITIES 261 

But the fancy balls at the Tuileries had several serious rivals, 
for similar entertainments often took place at the ministries 
and the foreign embassies. We recall one given by Morny, 
at which the Princess Mathilde, for once casting her dignity 
aside, appeared in tatters as a beggar-maid — whether Tenny- 
son's, we cannot say, but in any case no King Cophetua " sware 
a royal oath," on that occasion, vowing that she should be his 
queen. It would, by the way, have been a futile oath, the 
Princess being bound already by the chains of matrimony. 
Again, there was a ball given by Marshal Randon at which, to 
the mingled delight and dread of the fair guests, four young 
African lions were introduced into some of the pageantry of the 
entertainment. One year, too, at the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Count Walewski provided a " Quadrille des Patineurs," 
the participants in Avhich, clad in Polish costumes, went skating 
in couples round an ornamental staff, whence radiated cherry- 
coloured ribbons which they held. 

At another time there was a wonderful pageant at the 
Ministry of Marine, a pageant emblematical of all the countries 
in the world, France coming first, clad in white, with a tricolour 
scarf about her, and an olive branch in her hand. Then 
Europe, personified by Mme. Bartholoni, appeared in a triumphal 
chariot, escorted by ladies representative of various countries, 
and followed by Mme. Rimsky-Korsakoff as Asia, with attendant 
crocodiles, houris, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian maids. 
Next, to the strains of the overture of " L'Africaine," came the 
Princess Jablonowska, garbed as Cleopatra, with a lion cub at 
her feet, and flanked by Mme. de Montaut arrayed as a 
Soudanese warrior, mounted on a dromedary. But " Yankee 
Doodle " sounded, and then, under garlands of flowers, America 
was seen in a hammock hanging between palm trees, and 
attended by typical " uncle Sams,'' Californian miners, Peruvian 
incas, and Mexicans a la Montezuma. 

Ah ! those pageants and those balls, it would be difficult to 
exhaust the list of them. There was a ball given by Mme. 
Drouyn de Lhuys at the Foreign Office when Mme. de 
Metternich appeared as a Spanish bull-fighter, Mme. de Galliffet 
as a tulip, and Princess Lise Troubetskoi as a butterfly, while 
the Emperor and Empress, muffled in dominoes and closely 



262 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

masked, went hither and thither to ascertain, perhaps, what 
good, and particularly what ill, might be said of them. Then, 
again at the Foreign Office, but in the Marquis de Moustier's 
time, there was a ball at which young America carried all before 
her. She was rising rapidly in Parisian society, which, following 
the example of the Tuileries itself, gave a cordial welcome to 
the new transatlantic aristocracy, the Noblesse of the Dollar. 
The Miss Slidells, as War and Peace, Miss Dix as the 
Marguerite of "Faust," Miss Hitchcock as a jockey, the lovely 
Miss Beck with as Aurora — they were the young ladies whose 
charm and tastefulness triumphed at the " Foreign Affairs " in 
1867, that year of the Empire''s apogee. Elsewhere France 
held her own. We recall an entertainment at the Prince de la 
Moskowa's residence in the Rue de Marignan, when a most 
amusing village wedding-party appeared in the salons, the 
blushing bride being impersonated by a distinguished senator, 
the amorous bridegroom by the staidest of judges, and the 
mayor, gendarmes, and peasant guests by a series of princes, 
dukes, and counts. 

Then there were the balls given by Princess Pauline 
Metternich at the Austrian embassy in the Rue de Varennes. 
One time the palm for eifectiveness went to Mme. de Morny 
and Mme. de Girardin for their impersonation of white roses 
sprinkled with dewdrops of diamonds. But Princess Pauline 
(of whom we shall have more to say a little later) was possessed 
of no little eccentricity as well as wit. One Thursday night — 
her night, as a rule — she put a crowning touch to a farcical 
entertainment by lighting a cigar. And as thirty lady-guests 
did likewise, the soiree suddenly became a tabagie. Another 
time the Princess announced her intention of giving a dance 
during Lent. Everybody was lost in amazement at the idea, 
some even spoke severely of such an infraction of both religious 
duty and good taste. Nevertheless, all who were fortunate 
enough to secure invitations accepted them. Dancing went on 
till nearly midnight, by which time supper was very generally 
expected. But all at once the orchestra ceased playing, and 
the Princess, taking her stand in the middle of the room, 
exclaimed : " Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Lenten ball. 
Lent means fasting, as you are aware ; so I warn you that you 



COURT FESTIVITIES 263 

must not expect supper here to-night. Pray stay as long as 
you please, but I should be sorry if you were to stay so long 
as to be unable to get supper elsewhere, should you desire it." 
The guests listened, stared, and finally laughed, deeming it 
best to face the situation with good countenances, though the 
laugh was, we fancy, on the wrong side of their mouths. Some 
imagined, however, that the Princess's speech was a mere joke, 
and that supper would be duly provided, as otherwise the 
Austrian embassy's reputation for hospitality might be seriously 
compromised. But they were quite mistaken, no supper was 
served, and one and all withdrew, tired and hungry on a bleak 
March night. 

That little episode reminds us of a contretemps that occurred 
at a fancy ball given one year at the Prussian embassy. So far 
as dancing and costumes were concerned it was a very brilliant 
affair, to the success of which La Castiglione contributed by 
appearing in the costume of a Red Indian "brave," with an 
aureola of feathers about her head. Unfortunately the supper 
arrangements were defective. Prussian parsimony had pre- 
supposed that a very limited number of guests would require 
food, and even the appetites of the Corps diplomatique were 
overlooked. Turkey, having found no seat at table, went 
home famished and furious, with the result that war raged 
between the Sublime Porte and Berlin for several weeks after- 
wards. Spain was even more angry than Turkey, regarding its 
failure to secure any supper as a direct insult to its grandeeship, 
and proclaiming urhi et orbi that there was no truth whatever 
in the old story that it subsisted entirely on cigarettes and 
chocolate. 

A propos, however, of the Princess Metternich to whom we 
were referring just now, it was she, we think (may we be 
forgiven if we are in error !), who on one occasion invited a 
number of Court and diplomatic guests to a dinner, when 
they were vastly amazed by the behaviour of some half-dozen 
servants, who not only pronounced their names all amiss when 
announcing them, but indulged in various strange pranks, such 
as flunkeys usually reserve for the servants' hall. The climax 
came directly dinner was served, for the aforesaid menials 
rushed into the dining-room, seated themselves at table, and 



264 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

raised their knives and forks as if in eagerness to despatch 
the various viands. The startled guests wondered if they were 
dreaming, and some testy folk among them were already 
turning on their heels when the laughter of the hostess, 
mingling with that of the servants, restrained them. Briefly, 
those servants were all young men of good position, " got up " 
to act the parts assigned to them. Some, not content with 
assuming powdered wigs and all necessary maguillage, had even 
been brave enough to sacrifice their moustaches and whiskers 
the better to disguise their identity. 

Reverting to the balls of the time, there was yet another 
one, deserving of mention here, although it was not attended 
by ladies of society. It was given, indeed, in March 1865, to 
persons of the demi-monde by the younger and more frivolous 
members of the French Jockey Club. The gilded saloons of 
Les Trois Freres Provenpaux were selected as the scene of the 
entertainment, and there was no question at all of anybody 
being sent home supperless. But a serious question of costume 
arose. It was feared that there might be some very unpleasant 
bickering and jealousy if Mile. Chose — "protected" at the rate 
of odOOO a month — should flaunt all her diamonds and other 
finery before Mile. Machin, who derived but a quarter of the 
aforesaid amount from her own particular protectorate, and had 
very few diamonds to show. So the Avord went forth that all 
the invitees were to appear as grisettes. But if man proposes, 
woman disposes, and her ingenuity is never at a loss. The 
more opulent " ladies of the lake," as they were called in those 
days — after the lake in the Bois de Boulogne, round which 
they drove every afternoon — arrived on the scene in great 
splendour, wearing Manon Lescaut, Pompadour, and Camargo 
costumes, with no lack of powder in their hair or diamonds 
either. When the organizers of the entertainment expressed 
their surprise at this magnificence, they were quietly answered : 
" Oh ! I am a grisette Louis Quatorze," — or Louis Quinze, as 
the case might be. Briefly, the gathering did not include a 
single grisette after the fashion of those in Murger's "Vie de 
Boheme." 

It was at Compiegne (we shall speak hereafter of the Court's 
annual sojourn there) that there was most indulgence in 



COURT FESTIVITIES 265 

" drawing-room games "" and private theatricals ; but something 
of the kind was also witnessed, now and then, at the Tuileries. 
There was no card-playing at the palace — except on the 
occasion of the grand balls, when a few tables were set out 
for whist ; but the Emperor, the Empress and their familiars 
sat down now and then to a quiet family game of " loto," or 
even " consequences." The Emperor, moreover, sometimes 
roused himself from his ruminations to ask a riddle. One night 
he put the following question to his entourage : " Why is it 
that in winter we usually feel the cold more in our feet, 
although they are protected by boots, than we do on our faces 
which are bare ? " Some pedant, who was present, wished to 
supply a scientific explanation of the phenomenon, but the 
Emperor restrained him. The others " gave it up," as the 
saying goes. " Well," said Napoleon, as gravely as if he had 
been warning Austria or Prussia, or promising France the 
long-delayed " crowning of the edifice," " it is like this : The 
temperature being low naturally affects the base more than it 
does the summit." That may not be a particularly good joke, 
but Napoleon III. was certainly not destitute of wit or power 
of repartee. Unluckily, his jests more frequently took the form 
of play upon words, double enteiite, as it is called, and in that 
case all point is usually lost in a translation. For instance, 
one day, when, greatly to the Empress*'s annoyance, some 
impossible person indulged in sundry Voltairean remarks 
respecting the Holy Ghost {UEsprit Saint) and Pentecost, 
the Emperor quietly remarked : " As it is certain that that 
gentleman does not possess Fesprit sain (a sound mind) he 
would do best to say nothing more on the subject." 

At times, notably as the Imperial Prince grew older, there 
were conjuring entertainments at the Tuileries. If we remember 
rightly, too, the Davenport brothers gave a seance there before 
they succumbed to the ridicule with which the exposures of 
Viscount Alfred de Gaston inspired the Parisians. Subsequently 
a very notable wizard appeared on the scene, none other than 
David Dunglas Home, whom Robert Browning satirized as 
" Sludge." It was, we think, a Russian ambassador. Count 
KisselefF, who introduced Home to the Tuileries, where he 
turned tables, practised crystal gazing, and conjured up spirits. 



^66 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

To some it may seem surprising that so orthodox a Catholic 
as the Empress Eugenie should have shown any favour to a man 
like Home, but it must be remembered that the superstitions 
of the Churches often induce others. Moreover, the Emperor 
himself was more or less of a fatalist, and thus Home became for 
a time persona gratissima at the Tuileries. Sceptical courtiers 
looked on and wondered at the infatuation of the sovereigns for 
that long, lanky, lion-maned individual, who before giving any 
grand seance lived, according to his own account, for days together 
on nothing more substantial than sugared water. Ministers, it 
has been said, even became perturbed at the influence which 
Home began to exercise ; and, according to one account, he was 
denounced as a foreign spy, and as such expelled from France 
at the instigation of Count Walewski. But many years ago, 
Baron de Billing, who, from being Walewski's secretary, rose to 
a high position in the French diplomatic world, assured us that 
Home did not quit France for any political reason. According 
to M. de Billing it seems that so long as Home was content to 
conjure up the spirits of certain historical personages, such as 
Napoleon I. and Marie Antoinette, and ascribe to them 
language of an oracular vagueness, appropriate to the spirit- 
world, all went well with him. He followed the Court from the 
Tuileries to St. Cloud, and thence to Biarritz, where, however, 
he received his conge. It appears that the proximity of 
Biarritz to Spain turned his thoughts to cosas de Espana with 
which he was by no means well acquainted, though they were, 
of course, familiar enough to the Empress. Thus Home for 
the first time began to blunder, and finally, on an occasion 
when, imperfectly informed respecting the Empress's childhood, 
he nevertheless presumed to evoke the spirit of her father, the 
Count de Montijo, he perpetrated a series of very ridiculous 
mistakes. The Empress's eyes were then opened, she reahzed 
that the man in whom she had foolishly begun to believe was 
merely a charlatan, and he was promptly turned out of the 
Villa Eugenie. 

He went to Russia (where, we think, he had been before), 
and the Russian Court, which has often yielded to ridiculous 
superstitions — the more recent case of Philippe will be re- 
membered—gave him a cordial welcome. In 1870, hoAvever, 



COURT FESTIVITIES 267 

he followed the German armies to France, and, ostensibly as 
the correspondent of a Californian newspaper, installed himself 
at Versailles, where he gave seances for the entertainment of 
the princelings of the ornamental staff. We remember that he 
subsequently showed us a little Sevres cup or vase which he had 
taken from the chateau of St. Cloud during the conflagration 
there, and that, descanting on the fate of the Second Empire, 
he declared he had been treated with base ingratitude by 
Napoleon III. and his consort, for he had generously warned 
them of the danger of downfall. They, however, refusing, in 
their pride, to believe him, had dismissed him from their 
presence. However the " Ides of March " had come, and swept 
them away. 

The policy of the Empire towards the Parisian working- 
classes was to give them, first, plenty of employment, such as the 
Haussmannization of the city provided, and, secondly, plenty 
of amusement. The bourgeoisie of various degrees was treated in 
a similar manner. We have alluded to the multiplicity of the 
Parisian dancing-halls in those days. Theatres, circuses, and 
concert-rooms were likewise more numerous than they had ever 
been before ; while each year brought in its train a succession 
of pageants and fetes, either in the city itself or its immediate 
vicinity. There was the New Year Fair on the Boulevards, the 
Carnival procession of the Fat Ox, the Mid-Lent or Washer- 
women's Festival, the Ham Fair and the Gingerbread Fair at 
the Barriere du Trone, the Promenade of Longchamp, the Fete 
Napoleon on August 15, the fetes of St. Cloud, Les Loges 
and Sceaux, the annual crowning of the Rosiere of Nanterre, 
and many other celebrations. Both the Fat Ox and the 
Washerwomen's processions went the round of Paris, visiting 
the various ministries, the embassies, and even the Tuileries. 
In 1869, when the prize ox of the Paris cattle-show was 
christened Chilperic, in honour of Herve's opera-bouffe of that 
name, a wag wrote some verses respecting the doomed beast's 
progress through the city, and a few of them may be quoted 

here : 

II visite sur sa route 

Les ministres d'aujourd'hui, 
Qui demain seront, sans doute, 

Moins a la mode que lui. 



268 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Puis, par un autre caprice, 

On introduit Chilperic 
Pres la grande ambassadrice, 

Madame de Metternich. 

La cliente noble et riche. 

Que Worth habille de neuf , 
Oublie un instant I'Autricbe 

Au spectacle du bcEuf . 
iti * * * * 

II desire peu de chose : 

Voir I'Empereur et mourir. 
II le voit, et Ton suppose 

Que cela lui fait plaisir. 

On coming to the Tuileries the Fat Ox procession passed 
under the triumphal arch into the reserved part of the Place 
du Carrousel, and the Emperor, the Empress, and the Imperial 
Prince stationed themselves on the palace balcony to inspect 
it, while both largesse and refreshment were distributed among 
the masqueraders by the officers and servants. Much the same 
reception greeted the arrival of the Washerwomen"'s procession, 
only then the Emperor came into the courtyard to kiss the 
queen of the day, and present her with a jewel. When the 
Court was at St. Cloud in the early autumn, the Emperor 
and Empress often strolled through the local fete, visiting 
the various booths, admiring in turn the bearded and the 
colossal lady, the sword-swallower, and the two-headed calf, 
to say nothing of the familiar "live lion stuffed with straw, 
and the dead eagle picking his eyes out." But the day of days 
for the Paris populace was the Fete Napoleon, that precursor 
of the Fete Nationale of present times. There was the inevitable 
review, usually of the Army of Paris, sometimes 80,000 strong, 
and occasionally of the National Guard, as it was then con- 
stituted. There were also performances " gratis " at the theatres 
by imperial command ; there were fairs on the Place de la 
Bastille, the Place du Trone, and the Trocadero; balloon 
ascents on the Champ de Mars ; and water-jousts on the Seine ; 
too;ether with the march of the old surviving veterans of " La 
Grande Armee," from their asylum at the Invalides to the Place 
Vendome, whither they went to deposit wreaths on the railings 
around the column raised to that same army's glory by the 
great captain, whose effigy arose above it. By day the streets 



THE GREAT YEAR, 1867 269 

of Paris were bright with bunting, at night they blazed with 
illuminations, and there were fireworks galore — everything being 
done better than it is done now, because it was so largely 
undertaken by the Parisian authorities, in such wise that 
harmonious schemes of decoration and illumination were carried 
out, often on a very large scale indeed. Of course, WveJ'ete 
had its purely official side, such as the great reception at the 
Tuileries, when congratulatory addresses and telegrams poured 
in without cessation, the special prayers, too, for the Emperor 
and his family in all the churches, and the banquets and soirees 
given in connection with the departments of the State. 

One year stands out prominently in the annals of the time 
as the year of both Imperial and Parisian splendour. That 
was 1867. It is true that, since we last glanced at the political 
situation — in or about 1860 — the Empire had received many 
blows, met with many losses and reverses. Its most able men 
in the spheres of politics and finance were dead or in retire- 
ment. Its Mexican policy had encountered a terrible rebuff, 
the United States having compelled the withdrawal of the 
French forces of occupation. Again, the imperial prestige had 
suffered badly both with regard to Poland and to Denmark, in 
the last case largely through the refusal of England to join in 
intervention. Then, too, the crash of Sadowa — or Koniggratz, 
if that name be preferred — had re-echoed far and wide, to the 
serious damage of the Emperor''s reputation. Prussia was now 
supreme in Germany, and none of the secretly anticipated com- 
pensations, either on the Rhine or in Belgium, had been secured 
by France. The menace of war with Prussia hovered over the 
land, for it seemed as if the difficulties of the Luxemburg 
question could only be solved by gun and sword. Further, there 
was trouble imminent with Italy, although the interposition 
of Napoleon III. had secured that country the possession of 
Venetia, for, in one or another way, she still demanded Rome, 
and the French troops, previously withdrawn from the Eternal 
City, had to be despatched there afresh to check the designs of 
Garibaldi. 

Over home affairs hung several ominous clouds. The year 
opened with the Emperor's decision of January 19, cancelling 
the Legislature's right to present addresses to the Crown, but 



270 THE COUHT OF THE TUILERIES 

granting it, instead, the right of interpellating Ministers. 
Braggart Rouher, the so-called Vice-Emperor, was more power- 
ful than ever, being now both Minister of State and Minister of 
Finances ; but other officials had lost their posts. The 
Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat had been dismissed from the 
Ministry of Marine, and replaced by Admiral Rigault de 
Genouilly ; Marshal Randon had rightly been compelled to 
surrender the Ministry of War to Marshal Niel, who had, 
however, a formidable task of army reorganization before him. 
And the portfolio of Finances, now assigned to Rouher, had 
been relinquished by Fould. The latter's departure was a 
serious loss to France, for if her military forces needed to be 
strengthened, her finances also required the strictest supervision, 
the most careful handling. Fould's retirement was hailed with 
applause, however. He might be an expert financier, but he 
was a close-fisted one, and such as he were not liked in those 
spendthrift days. When his few friends claimed that he had 
served the Empire well, they were answered : " Oh, he need not 
go without reward, Jews never do ; and doubtless the Emperor 
will be pleased to create him Duke de Villejuif." * 

But there were other notable features in home affairs at 
that period. Both the anti-dynastic and the constitutional 
Oppositions in the Legislative Body were gradually growing 
stronger. The Republican cause, in particular, was making 
steady progress in Paris and other large cities. Further, owing 
in part to the check which the Haussmannization of the capital 
had already received on account of the great outlay it entailed, 
there was less contentment than formerly among the working- 
classes. There had been many strikes, and great was the 
dissatisfaction with the high rents prevailing in the city. The 
Emperor knew that grievance to be genuine, and although he 
was inadequately seconded, he had been studying it seriously 
for some time past, devising or examining plans for the erection 
of workmen's dwellings in the immediate vicinity of Paris. He 
himself set up a row of them near the Avenue Daumesnil at 
Vincennes, and also showed some pattern cottages at the Ex- 
hibition of 1867. Of late years his ideas on this subject have 
found some favour in France. Instead of workmen being 

* A play on tlje word — vile juif signifying " vile Jew." 



THE GREAT YEAR, 1867 271 

invariably herded in huge tenements inside Paris, many now 
have cottage-and-garden abodes, notably in the south-west 
suburbs. That, of course, has been facilitated by the vast 
improvement in means of communication since the days of the 
Empire. 

The great Exhibition of 1867 naturally gave impetus to 
trade, money still seemed to be plentiful enough ; and whatever 
ruins might lie, whatever crumbling might be going on, behind 
the fafade of the Empire, that facade still remained imposing, 
and displayed itself in all its magnificence during that remark- 
able year — a year of festivity unparalleled in the history of 
any other nation. The huge Exhibition building on the Champ 
de Mars may not have been outwardly beautiful, but it was 
extremely well arranged, and the display in its galleries and 
in the pavilions of the grounds, surpassed everything of a 
similar nature seen at previous world-shows. From April until 
mid-October Paris was crowded with foreigners from all parts 
of the world ; and emperors, kings, princes, viceroys and other 
potentates responded with alacrity to the invitations of the 
Court of the Tuileries. A full recital of all the entertain- 
ments and pageants of the time, banquets, receptions, balls, 
gala theatrical performances, concerts, reviews, and what not 
besides, would make a volume; and here we can only treat 
the subject briefly. One entertainment, however, was often 
much like another, and thus a detailed narrative might prove 
tedious. 

Altogether over eighty royalties — crowned heads, princes, 
princesses, grand and arch dukes and duchesses, reigning dukes, 
etc., etc.— flocked to Paris in that year of jubilee. The very 
first to arrive was Prince, now King Oscar of Sweden, whom 
Baron de Billing used jocularly to call the King of the Jews 
on account of his descent from Bernadotte. Years ago, during 
some of the early talk respecting Zionism, the Baron was wont 
to remark : " Nonsense, we need not go to war with Turkey to 
give Palestine back to the Jews — let them emigrate to Sweden, 
they will find a king of their race on the throne there." After 
Prince Oscar came the young Prince of Orange, the unfortunate 
Citron, as he was called. Then, in turn appeared the King 
and Queen of the Belgians, the King and Queen of the Hellenes, 



27S THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Queen Pia of Portugal, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, the Grand 
Duchess Marie of Russia, a Prince of Japan, the Prince of 
Wales, and the Duke of Edinburgh. The month of June 
brought both the Czar Alexander II., accompanied by his sons 
and other grand-dukes, and the King of Prussia, with his son 
(later the Emperor Frederick) and Bismarck and Moltke also. 
Subsequently came the Crown Prince, later King of Saxony, 
Prince, later King, Humbert of Italy, his brother, the Duke of 
Aosta (later Amadeo of Spain), the Crown Prince, now King of 
Denmark, the Count and Countess of Flanders, and a crowd 
of German and other princelings. Next we saw the Khedive, 
Ismail the Lavish, who fell desperately in love with Hortense 
Schneider, Offenbach's " Grande Duchesse ; "" and Sultan Abdul 
Aziz the Murdered, with whom were both his future successors, 
Murad the Madman and Abdul the Damned. Not a week, 
hardly a day, elapsed without bringing a royalty to Paris, where 
spring, summer, and autumn were all Shrove Tuesday and 
Carnival time, Lent arriving later — in 1870. 

The Exhibition was opened on April 1 ; the political clouds 
lifted on May 11, when the neutralization of the Grand-duchy 
of Luxemburg was at last agreed upon. Then Tout a la Joie ! 
became the cry of Paris. Nevertheless, the summer brought 
some unpleasant incidents. On June 6, when the Czar and the 
Emperor Napoleon were returning together from Longchamp, 
after passing, in company with the King of Prussia, some forty 
battalions, sixty squadrons and twenty batteries of the army 
of Paris in review, the first-named was fired upon by a Polish 
refugee named Berezowski. The only injury inflicted on the 
occasion was experienced by an unfortunate horse, which a 
zealous equerry, M. Raimbeaux, spurred forward to cover the 
menaced monarch; and the Czar, like all the other royalties, 
attended a great ball at the Russian embassy that same evening 
as though nothing unpleasant had happened. But a day or 
two later, when he visited the Palais de Justice, some young 
advocates of the Republican party, more zealous than well-bred, 
made a demonstration against him, and one of them, Charles 
Floquet (subsequently a pitiable prime minister of the Republic), 
shouted " Long live Poland ! " in his face. Thus, in spite of all 
the courtesy of the Tuileries, the splendour of the hospitality 



THE GREAT YEAR, 1867 273 

extended both there and at the Elysee, where the Czar actually 
resided, and the unparalleled magnificence of the ball which 
Baron Haussmann gave at the Hotel de Ville at a cost of 
,£'30,000 (8000 persons being present), the Russian visit ended 
very badly. The King of Prussia remained in Paris some days 
longer, and while Moltke quietly went hither and thither, 
taking note of all things military, the equally wily Bismarck 
gratified Napoleon Avith some private confabulations in the 
imperial cabinet, even as he had favoured him with previous 
ones on the sands of Biarritz in October, 1865. At that time 
Napoleon had deemed Bismarck to be a madman, and Bismarck 
had regarded Napoleon as a fool. What were their respective 
thoughts of each other in 1867 — when Koniggratz had come 
and gone ? 

But let us proceed. Trouble again arose to dismay the 
Court of the Tuileries at the time of the Sultan's visit in 
August and the great distribution of the exhibition prizes 
at the Palais de Tlndustrie. This was a gorgeous, crowded 
ceremony, when Princes and Princesses of many nations mustered 
beside the Emperor, the Empress, and the Sultan, on the great 
throne, all gold and crimson. Two guests, however, who were 
to have been present at the pageant were conspicuously absent. 
They were the Count and Countess of Flanders, brother and 
sister-in-law of the unhappy Empress Charlotte of Mexico. The 
news had come, indeed, that Maximilian, her husband, had been 
shot at Queretaro by the Mexican Republicans. The blow was 
a severe one for the proud Empire of France, which had set 
hiui on his precarious throne. The " greatest scheme of the 
reign "" was quite ended now. And it was of little use to point 
out that Maximilian had brought the death-penalty on himself 
by decreeing it for his adversaries. The Queretaro execution 
recoiled on both Napoleon and his consort, who had conjointly 
sent the unlucky Archduke on the maddest of enterprises across 
the seas. 

A little later, after remaining in Paris to entertain the Kings 
of Sweden and Portugal, who, in their turn, participated in the 
procession of royalties, the Emperor and Empress journeyed to 
Salzburg, there to meet Maximilian's brother, the Emperor 
Francis Joseph of Austria, and express, perhaps, their belated 



274 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

penitence. Subsequently the Austrian ruler came to Paris, 
going thence to Compiegne ; and possibly one might trace back to 
the long conversations which tooic place there between him and 
Napoleon III., the first idea of a compact which might enable 
them to revenge themselves on Prussia — Prussia which had 
driven Austria out of Germany, and denied France all com- 
pensation for her neutrality. In any case that great year, 1867, 
ended inauspiciously. Marshal Niel brought forward his scheme 
for the creation of a Garde Mobile, by which means it was hoped 
to give France an army of 1,200,000 men ; and the atmosphere 
was on all sides heavy with rumours of approaching war. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE GKACES OF THE EMPIRE — SOME STATESMEN 
AND DIPLOMATISTS 

Mesdames de Galliffet, Pourtales and Metternich — Their Husbands also — The 
Gambling Countess Kisseleff — Other Russian 'Ladies — Marshal Magnan's 
Son and Daughters — The Duchess de Morny — Countess Lehon — Morny 
as President of the Chamber — His Death and Fortune — The Walewskis — 
Schneider — Mme. Eattazzi — Billault — The Sandon Scandal — Vice- 
Emperor Eouher — Some last Ministers of the Interior — Pinard and 
" Madame Bovary " — Magne, Delangle and Baroche — Baron Haussmann 
— Ministers for Foreign Affairs — Thouvenel, Drouyn de Lhuys and others 
— Foreign Ambassadors — Baron Goltz and Napoleon III. — " The Fatal 
Ambassador " — Dix and Washburne — Lord Cowley and Lord Lyons. 

Three ladies, whom we have ah-eady had occasion to mention 
incidentally, have virtually passed into history as the Graces of 
the Second Empire. The Court of the Tuileries included so 
many beautiful, charming and witty women that perhaps some 
injustice has been done in raising any particular trio to a 
pedestal. Nevertheless, the ladies in question, Mesdames de 
Galliffet, de Pourtales, and de Metternich, were undoubtedly, in 
one or another way, fascinating figures of the reign. The two 
first were beautiful in different styles, the third was distinguished 
by her wit, sprightly vivacity and elegance ; and, after all, the 
appellation bestowed upon them was in a measure justified, 
because taken conjointly they embodied all that can make their 
sex attractive. 

The Marchioness de Galliffet, who bore the Christian names 
of Florence Georgina, was the daughter of Charles Lafiitte — the 
banker and sportsman, once well known on the turf as "Major 
Fridolin "" — by his wife Florence Anna Cunningham, an English 
lady. Mile. Laffitte was still in her teens when in November, 
1859, she was wedded, at Maisons-Laffitte, to Gaston Alexandre 
Auguste, the present Marquis de Galliffet and Prince de 



276 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Martigues. He, born in January, 1830, and now therefore in 
his seventy-eighth year, is the son of Alexandre, Marquis de 
Galliffet and Prince de Martigues, by his second wife nee 
Baulde de Vieuville, By a first marriage with Mile. Adelaide 
des Roys d'Asport, Marquis Alexandre had a daughter, now 
deceased, who married the Marquis de Barbentane ; and the 
first offspring of his second union was also a girl, who espoused 
Count de Vassinhac dlmecourt, and who, if still alive, which 
we doubt, must be over eighty years of age. 

The Galliffet family is a very ancient one, originally of 
Dauphine, whence the still existing branch passed into Provence 
in or about 1540. It can trace its descent back to Jean de 
Galliffet, damoiseau, who held the Dauphinese lordships of La 
Galliffetiere and Savoyroux in 1380 ; and it claims that it would 
have been able to prove a yet remoter ancestry had not many 
early title-deeds been destroyed during the League and Huguenot 
wars. The principality of Martigues (near Marseilles and Aix- 
en-Provence) dates from 1580, when it was created by Henri 
III. in favour of Emmanuel of Lorraine, Duke de Mercceur, and 
his heirs and assigns. It passed by acquisition to Marshal 
Villars in 1714, then to the Vogiid family in 1764, and finally 
to the Galliffets eight years later. The arms of the latter are 
gules, charged with a chevron argent and three trefles or. A 
ducal coronet surmounts the shield, and the family motto is 
" Bien faire et laisser dire," which may be Anglicized bluntly as 
" Do right and let folk chatter."" 

Gaston, Marquis de Galliffet, enlisted as a " private " in 
1848, and has thus risen from the ranks to the highest position 
that is nowadays attainable in the French army. His early 
career was marked by certain episodes on which we will not 
insist, as they were of the kind commonly known as youthful 
indiscretions.* In 1853 young Galliffet had become a Sub- 
Lieutenant in the Guides, and it was as such that he went to 

* The police documents concerning them have been published, first by M. 
Millerand, the Eepublican politician, in La ^Petite Bdjoubligue, June, 1894, 
and secondly in L'Aurore, February 22, 1900. Briefly put, the affair was 
this : The young man fell into ithe clutches of a designing and predatory 
•woman, and was rescued from her by the police at the intervention of his 
family. 



THE GRACES OF THE EMPIRE 277 

the Crimea, where, under the walls of SebastopoJ, he gained the 
cross of the Legion of Honour and , was for the first time 
mentioned in an " order of the day." In 1856 he was attached 
to Morny's embassy to St. Petersburg for the coronation of the 
Czar, and in the following year he was promoted to the rank 
of Lieutenant, which he still held at the period of his marriage ; 
but, by that time, he had already exchanged from the Guides 
to the Spahis, and seen some service in Algeria. His father 
was then dead, and Avhether what has been written about the 
state of his fortune at that moment be true or not, it is certain 
that his charming bride brought with her a very handsome 
dowry. The marriage was followed by M. de Galliffefs pro- 
motion to a Captaincy and his appointment as an orderly officer 
to the Emperor, which post he held from February, I860, till 
July, 1863,* when he returned to Algeria as a Major {clief 
cTescadron) in the 1st Hussars. It was, then, between 1860 and 
1863 that M. de Galliffet first figured at the Imperial Court, 
where both he and his young wife soon became conspicuous, 
he by reason of his vivacity, his flow of spirits, his occasional 
eccentricities, and his brilliant horsemanship ; she by reason of 
her blonde beauty, the indescribable grace and charm of a 
figure which was perhaps too slender to be altogether perfect, 
the readiness and spirit of her conversational powers, and the 
exquisite taste which she displayed in the art of dress. Two 
sons and a daughter were born of the marriage, which, as we 
have previously mentioned,! did not turn out satisfactory, in 
some measure perhaps by reason of the many occasional 
separations which the husband's profession necessarily entailed, 
before the final one was arrived at. 

On quitting his post as orderly officer to the Emperor, 
M. de Galliffet, as we have said, returned to Algeria, but soon 
afterwards he proceeded to Mexico with the 12th Chasseurs-a- 
cheval. At the battle of Puebla he was wounded in a terrible 
manner and few expected that he would survive; but he 

* Many misstatements have appeared in print on that subject. We have 
even read that the Emperor never saw M. de Galliffet till his return from 
Mexico ; but we write this brief account with a full official list of M. de 
Galliffet's promotions and appointments before us. That is better than 
trusting to memory. 

t See ante, p. 49. 



278 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

fortunately did so, and was selected to convey some flags taken 
from the Mexican Republicans to France, and to present them 
to the Emperor. Napoleon, who was at Vichy, received 
M. de Galliffet with great kindness, and promoted him to the 
rank of Lieutenant-colonel (June, 1865). For a while, the 
injured officer lingered at Vichy, and was often to be seen 
either hobbling about the park on his crutches, or resting 
there under the shade of the fine old trees. Those who then 
happened to be visiting the famous spa occasionally heard him 
relate in his customary picturesque and realistic style the story 
of his terrible injuries. 

" How it happened ? " he would say. " Oh ! we were 
charging. A shell exploded, and I was thrown to the ground. 
But that does not stop a charge, and the comrades went on 
fast enough. When I recovered consciousness I found that a 
part of my hip had been carried away, and that my abdomen 
had been cut open. My entrails were coming out. But what 
of that ? When we go boar-hunting, and a hound is ripped 
up, we don't let it die ; we put its entrails back, gather the 
flesh together and sew it up. Well, for my part, I tried to 
get on my feet again. At first I could only struggle on to my 
knees. Still that was something, and at last, holding my Icepi 
in front of me to prevent my inside from coming out altogether, 
I managed to stand up. That done, I made my way somehow 
to the ambulance, and — -well, here I am." 

At the ambulance, as it happened, M. de Galliffet remained 
for a considerable time in a very precarious condition. Ice was 
particularly needed for the treatment of his case, and at first 
none could be procured. Tidings of his dangerous state were 
sent to France, and many sympathetic remarks on the subject 
were addressed to Mme. de Galliffet by her friends. But she 
reassured them. " Oh, he will recover," said she, " he is such 
a lucky man ! " At that same period it so chanced that the 
story of the lack of ice was related one evening at the imperial 
dinner- table at the Tuileries, just as the Empress had asked a 
servant for some ice to cool her wine. She listened, horror- 
stricken, to the story which was told, and then turning to the 
valet, exclaimed, "No, take it away — I can't bear the thought 
of ice now that I know there is none for our wounded soldiers." 



THE GRACES OF THE EMPIRE 279 

In the case of M. de Galliffefs injuries, it became necessary 
to replace missing flesh by anatomical appliances, notably a 
kind of shield, which he has worn ever since. As is well known, 
his misadventure by no means impaired his military capabilities. 
He even returned to Mexico and commanded the French 
Contra-ffuerilla at Orizaba and Medellin. In 1867 he became 
a Colonel, and still held that rank at the outbreak of the 
Franco-German War of 1870. Almost on the eve of Sedan, 
that is on August 30, he was made a General of Brigade, 
and as such he commanded the 2nd Brigade of Margueritte's 
Division of light cavalry * in the famous if unsuccessful 
charge which was one of the redeeming episodes of the 
engagement which sealed the fate of the Empire. Mean- 
time Mme. de Galliffet had remained in Paris, seconding the 
Marechales de MacMahon and Canrobert in their solicitude 
for the French wounded, all three being prominently connected 
with the Societe de Secours aux Blesses which had its head- 
quarters at the Palais de Tlndustrie. We often saw them 
there, Mme. de Galliffet and the Marechale Canrobert — 
the beautiful dark, slim, queenly Flora Macdonald — simply 
dressed in slate grey, and Mme. de MacMahon in more solemn 
black. The last named, dark like Mme. de Canrobert but 
short and over buxom, did not strike one at first as looking 
particularly aristocratic, though as a daughter of the house 
of Castries she belonged to the most authentic old noblesse of 
France; but the ring of her voice, the flash of her eyes, 
the readiness and good sense of her decisions at committee 
meetings, and the untiring energy which she ever displayed in 
connection with the ambulance services, revealed her to be a 
maitresse fevnne, the fit spouse of one who had already risen to 
the highest military rank, and was yet destined to become the 
Chief of the State. 

Mme. de Canrobert, leaving Paris after the fall of the 
Empire, obtained Prince Frederick Charles''s permission to 
enter Metz and join her husband at the time of that strong- 
hold's surrender; but the Marchioness de Galliflet (while the 

* The 2nd Brigade was composed principally of Chasseurs d'Afrique. The 
1st was commanded by General Tillard, who, like Margueritte, was killed at 
Sedan. 



280 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Marquis, as one of the prisoners of Sedan, shared the captivity 
of his comrades at Coblenz) remained in Paris, heedless of 
the change of regime, and quietly and unobtrusively devoted 
herself to ambulance work throughout the bitter days of the 
German siege. We also remember seeing her at some charity 
sales which took place at that time for the benefit of destitute 
women — notably one at the Gare du Nord, when she disposed 
of eggs (not guaranteed to be fresh) at five shillings apiece, 
butter at £1 the tiny pat, and pieces of gruyere cheese at £Q 
each — only people like Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, Sir 
Richard Wallace, the Prince de Sagan, and the Duke de 
Castries being able to afford those rare and costly luxuries of 
the siege days. 

Later, under Marshal MacMahon's presidency of the 
Republic, Mme. de Galliffet again appeared in society, though 
in a less prominent manner than in former years. The last 
time we saw her was, we think, at a great chaxiiy fete given 
in the Tuileries garden in or about 1880. She contributed 
largely to the success of that enterprise, and her unexpected 
reappearance in public seemed something like a resurrection. 
Many who had merely heard of her, who knew her only by 
name, flocked inquisitively to her stall. She had aged un- 
doubtedly, but all the grace of former years was still there, 
together with all that taste in matters of dress which had 
helped to make her famous. 

Another zealous worker at that same gathering was Mme. 
de GallifFefs friend the Countess de Pourtales, over whom the 
years had passed, leaving little, if any, trace of their flight. 
Melanie de Bussieres had barely completed her seventeenth 
year when she married Count Edmond de Pourtales. She was 
by birth an Alsatian, her father, Alfred Renouard de Bussieres, 
belonging to a wealthy family of manufacturers of the Colmar 
district, with fine seats at Schoppenwihr and Robertsau, while 
her mother was a daughter of the Baron de Franck. As for 
M. de Pourtales, he was descended from a French Huguenot 
family, which had emigrated to Switzerland at the time of the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but which established a 
banking house in Paris during the reign of Napoleon I., when 
the principality of Neufchatel, to which the family belonged, 



THE GRACES OF THE EMPIRE 281 

after being ceded by Prussia to France, was bestowed by the 
Emperor on Berthier. A certain Jeremie Pourtales had been 
ennobled by Frederick the Great, and his three grandsons by 
his son Jacques were created Counts by Frederick William III. 
of Prussia in December, 1815, at which time, as may be 
remembered, the Prussian suzerainty over Neufchatel was with 
certain limitations revived. It was, indeed, only brought to 
an end by the intervention of France and Great Britain in 
1856-57, when war seemed imminent between Prussia and 
Switzerland — the result being that the Prussian ruler retained 
the title of Prince of Neufchatel, and accepted pecuniary 
compensation for the loss of his political rights. Whatever 
might be her husband's nationality, Mme. de Pourtales herself 
always remained tres Frangaise de cceur, and in 1870 she 
protested more than once that she was not a German but an 
Alsatian. After the fall of the Empire she was repeatedly 
subjected to insult and annoyance, being denounced as a 
German spy. Other ladies had a similar experience, notably 
the Countess de Behague, the Duchess de Waldburg and Countess 
Stephanie Tascher de la Pagerie. At one moment a report 
even circulated that Mme. de Pourtales had been imprisoned in 
the fortress of Vincennes, but it was merely one of the canards 
of the time. 

Under the Empire she and her husband resided in the Rue 
Tronchet, where Count Edmond's father had gathered together 
a famous collection of paintings and other works of art. When 
family arrangements necessitated the sale of that collection in 
April, 1865, it produced £113,000, or about £60,000 more 
than the original outlay. Several of the pictures were then 
purchased by Baron Seillieres, Baron James de Rothschild, and 
Lord Hertford — the latter's acquisitions figuring nowadays in 
the famous Wallace collection ; while Count Edmond, for his 
own part, bought in some fine examples of Rembrandt, Philippe 
de Champaigne, Quentin Matsys, and others, which still con- 
tinued to adorn the walls of the mansion, where, prior to the 
sale, you could scarcely pass along the passages or cross the 
rooms, so large was the assemblage of artistic treasures, bronze, 
marble, glass, china, and what not besides. The very knocker of 
the porte-cochere was a striking curio ^ representing a Virgin and 



282 THE COURT OF THE TUH^ERIES 

Child in a basin of holy water, and we often wondered that 
it was never stolen by some collector carried away by that 
passionate craving which some of the class are unable to resist. 

Count and Countess de Pourtales entertained in the Rue 
Tronchet on a lavish scale. They were not merely society 
folk, but people of culture also. Of late years several of the 
Countess's letters have been published, showing that she was the 
active collahoratrke of the Marquis Philippe de Massa in some 
of the amusing sketches which he wrote for the private 
theatricals at Compiegne and elsewhere. At the same time, 
perhaps because she was, like her husband, a Protestant, Mme. 
de Pourtales knew where to draw the line in matters of social 
frivolity. Her personal beauty was remarkable. Above an 
exquisitely proportioned figure, with perfect arms and shoulders, 
her head, poised on a graceful, swan-like neck, was crov/ned with 
an abundance of fair hair falling in what one may nowadays 
call, perhaps, the Edna May style, on either side of a low brow. 
The cheeks and chin were full ; the complexion ever remained 
that of an English girl in her first season ; the mouth was finely 
shaped, and the large liquid eyes were beautifully blue. And, 
as we have said, time seemed to pass and pass without impairing 
the Countess's charms. 

Fifteen years after the Franco-German war, when she was 
again residing in Paris, trying, so it seemed, to effect a recon- 
ciliation between the Legitimist and Bonapartist aristocracies, 
and mixing no little in cosmopolitan society, particularly among 
Americans, in whom she appeared to take an especial interest, 
she was still for everybody la helle Mme. de Pourtales. 

Her friend, the Princess Pauline Metternich, was not a 
beauty. Somebody styled her cette jolie laide, she styled herself 
the monkey d la mode. The brow was good, distinctly in- 
tellectual, and the dark, sparkling, laughing eyes had a charm 
peculiarly their own. But the nose was bad, the nostrils were 
too open, and the ears elongated, almost pointed, a defect 
which the Princess scorned to conceal. The worst, however, 
was the mouth, whose defects were plainly due to a malformation 
of the upper jaw. Yet even that was forgotten when the 
Princess spoke, for she was the wittiest woman of the age. Of 
average height, she originally had a very slim figure, and could 



THE GRACES OF THE EMPIRE 283 

assume, whenever necessary, the most aristocratic bearing in the 
world. With advancing years, however, she became somewhat 
stout. If she were occasionally eccentric, too vivacious or 
free spoken, in the old Tuileries days, there could be no question 
of her talents ; and though she was not personally the Austrian 
ambassador, but simply that ambassador's wife, she undoubtedly 
exercised no little political as well as social influence at the 
Court of the Empire. 

Daughter of a Hungarian magnate. Count Sandor, who was 
renowned for his breakneck feats of horsemanship, she married 
Prince Richard Metternich, son of the great Austrian Chan- 
cellor, when she was in her twenty-second year, her husband 
being eight years her senior. He was appointed Austrian 
ambassador to France in 1860, that is, after the Solferino- 
Magenta campaign. It seemed, therefore, as if his position in 
Paris might be for some time rather delicate. Besides, the 
hriisquerie with which Baron Hiibner, his predecessor, had been 
treated by Napoleon HI. was not easily forgotten. However, 
the Prince and his wife Avere received with the greatest cordiality, 
and were soon quite at home at the Tuileries. Fully a head 
taller than his wife, and inclined to be burly, Prince Richard 
had a broad, open, smiling face, with a moustache and whiskers 
which suggested a cross between the orthodox Austrian style 
and the Lord Dundreary pattern. He was a born musician, 
havino; all the waltzes of Lanner and Guno-l and Strauss at his 
fingers' tips ; and many a time, en petit comite at the Tuileries, 
he would seat himself at the grand piano in the Salon d'Apollon 
and play air after air to the delight of all who were present. 
The Princess, for her part, was a fervent partisan of Wagner, and 
it is well known that it was she who prevailed on Walewski to 
allow the performance of " Tannhaiiser "" at the Paris Opera in 
1861. She had previously tried to obtain the authorization from 
Fould, but he, possibly foreseeing the result, had refused it. 
There were only three performances, we think. At the second 
Princess Metternich broke her fan in vexation and left the house. 
The third was a perfect charivari, and a good many years 
elapsed before Wagner's music became acceptable to the 
Parisians generally. Mme. de Metternich was more successful 
in introducing Liszt to the Tuileries. 



284 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

It has sometimes been claimed that she invented Worth, the 
famous English costumier. It seems better to say that she 
speedily recognized the great talents of the man who waged war 
against the crinoline, but who was obliged to compromise with 
it, accepting it in an attenuated form in his jupe houjfante — 
Anglicized at the time as the " puffed skirt " — and other 
creations. Worth had already been in business a couple of 
years when Mme. de Metternich became his customer, but her 
patronage undoubtedly helped him on to fame and fortune. 
Still she was not exclusively Parisienne, she remembered Vienna, 
whence she occasionally imported some novelty in dress. Her 
taste may not have been always impeccable, but her innate 
elegance, her grand air, enabled her to wear things unsuited to 
others. That was a point too often forgotten by those who 
took her as their pattern. Besides, it often happened that when 
she set a viode imitators exaggerated and thereby disfigured 
it, in such a way that what was alleged to be the Metternich 
style was not really that style at all. At times the Princess's 
ideas were quite charming, as, for instance, when she appeared 
one evening at a Court entertainment in a robe of white satin 
festooned with ivy leaves, with others serving for a girdle, and 
others again for both necklace and bracelets, the whole shimmer- 
ing with diamond dewdrops cunningly set in their midst. She 
put her brilliants, and indeed all her jewels, to many uses, con- 
stantly having them reset, in such wise that folk who were not 
in the secret imagined her casket to be inexhaustible. 

Yellow, being the Austrian colour, figured prominently in 
the Princess's equipages when she first came to Paris, the 
wheels and a part of the body of her carriages being of 
that conspicuous hue, even as her livery also was black and 
yellow. But for some reason, perhaps on account of the start- 
ling yellow chariots in which the " dead and dyed " Duke of 
Brunswick displayed his painted cheeks and flaxen wig, she at 
one time adopted a particular shade of green. Now it 
happened that one afternoon, when a carriage of that tint 
was seen in the Bois de Boulogne, several gentlemen, imagining 
that it must be the Princess's, hastened to uncover. But a 
moment afterwards they found, to their horror and amazement, 
that they had bowed to a notorious woman, whom they were 



THE GRACES OF THE EMPIRE 285 

by no means desirous of saluting. When this person's imper- 
tinence in adopting her colour came to Mme. de Metternich's 
knowledge, she was momentarily dumfounded. But with 
sudden resolution she gave orders that her carriages were to 
be painted black, and until that was done she would not stir 
from the Embassy in the Faubourg St. Germain.* 

She was particularly fond of private theatricals, tableaux, 
charades, short comedies, and other little pieces, and frequently 
appeared in one or another character on the drawing-room 
stage at Compiegne,t thereby contributing largely to the gaiety 
of the Court's annual sojourn there. In the famous " Review of 
1865 " — " Les Commentaires de Cesar " — while the Prince de 
Metternich acted as orchestra, that is, by accompanyino- the 
entire performance on a cottage piano, the Princess appeared 
in three of the thirty roles which the piece comprised, first 
in a blue " uniform " as a vivandiere of Turcos, secondly in a 
" carrick " as a Paris cabman, and thirdly in a fancy costume 
of white satin trimmed with " notes of music " in black velvet, 
as the personification of Song. She was the soul of that per- 
formance of which we shall have more to say when we deal 
with the Court amusements at Compiegne. At another time 
she figured with Princess Czartoryska and others in a short- 
skirted " Diable a quatre " ballet ; at another she danced in a 
ballet called "La Couronne Enchant^e"; at another she 
appeared in a charade signifying Eugenie. She also collaborated 
with Octave Feuillet, Massa, and others in devising charades 
and other short pieces. On one occasion when the word 
adopted was mmiversaire she assigned the interpretation of 
the second and third syllables (iver = hiver) to M. de Galliffet 
who amused everybody by the manner in which he kept on 
falling down and trying to pick himself up on what was 
supposed to be ice. That was after his severe injuries in 
Mexico, and some concern was expressed lest he should hurt 
himself. " Oh ! I'm plated," he rejoined ; adding in memory of 
his ambulance experiences, " Besides, there is plenty of ice here." 

* In the last years of the Empire it was removed to the Champs Elys^es 
district, 

t Not, as some have supposed, in the theatre of the chateau. The private 
performances never took place there, but on a stage erected at the end of a 
salon on the right of the long Gallery of Maps. 



286 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

M. de Galliff'et, be it said, was en tout bien, tout Tionneur, a 
very great admirer of Princess Metternich ; and whenever he 
heard or read any disparaging remark concerning her, he called 
the offender to account with a promptness which left the Prince 
no opportunity to intervene, even if he had been so minded. 
In the same way as Paul de Cassagnac became known as the 
champion of the Empress, so was M. de Galliffet the Princess's. 
He fought various duels on her account, notably one with 
M. de Charnace which made a stir. M. de Metternich also 
on one occasion fought a duel, but not on account of his wife. 
The affair occurred in October, 1869, and the Prince's adversary 
was Count de Beaumont, who, not content with having a very 
charming wife (a near relation of Mme. de MacMahon's), was 
also foolishly, inordinately, morbidly jealous. Nobody could 
glance at, nobody could say a word to la helle Mme. de Beau- 
mont without incurring the Count's displeasure and suspicion. 
It was monomania which became so bad that in the autumn of 
1869 he called out no fewer than four gentlemen in succession, one, 
as we have mentioned, being M. de Metternich. The duel was 
fought at Kehl with cavalry sabres, and resulted in the Prince 
receiving an ugly gash in the right arm. For the rest, what- 
ever remarks malicious people may have indulged in, it need 
only be said that M. and Mme. de Metternich were greatly 
attached to each other, and that the affair was, from beginning 
to end, an extremely stupid one. 

The Princess's occasional eccentricities were counterbalanced 
by many good qualities. Her life was no mere whirl of amuse- 
ment, as some have imagined, she was a devoted wife and mother, 
and a first-rate manageress in her home. She also dispensed 
no little charity privately, and readily helped in any public 
work of benevolence. There was, however, one very strange 
character among the ambassadresses of those days. This was 
Countess Kisseleff, wife of the Russian representative in France 
after the Peace of Paris in 1856 : a man who, before turning to 
diplomacy, had distinguished himself as a general officer against 
the Turks. He suffered from insomnia, and his wife, who 
ought to have lived in this age of " bridge," was a born gamester. 
Now, some time in the early sixties, the embassy was installed 
in the Champs Elysees, that is in the Countess Lehon's former 



THE GRACES OF THE EMPIRE 287 

abode, the little house adjoining which, once tenanted by M. de 
Morny,* had also been secured as a kind of annexe. Count 
KisselefT, keeping very late hours, although he was a septua- 
genarian, and often walking up and down the Champs Elysees 
before he turned in for the night, noticed after a time that 
whatever the hour might be there were always lights burning 
on the ground floor of the little house. Further, by peeping 
through the shutters he was able to detect that nocturnal card- 
play went on there. On one occasion, just as he had vainly 
tried to ascertain who the players might be, and was about to 
enter the adjoining mansion, a policeman happened to come up. 
So he inquired of him : " Do you know who it is that plays 
cards in there all night and every night ? " "Oh yes," said 
the policeman, cheerfully, " it is Countess KisselefF." " Ah ! my 
wife," the ambassador replied. " Thanks. Good night." He, 
not long afterwards, shuffled off this mortal coil, but the 
Countess went on shuffling cards and losing money till the 
downfall of the Empire. " Of course I regret my husband," 
she was once reported to have said ; " but now that he is dead 
there is no further necessity for me to go to Court. That gives 
me more time to amuse myself. When the Count was alive, I 
could only play cards at night, but now, you see, I can play all 
day as well." 

Eccentric also, but in a different way, w^as Mme. Rimsky- 
Korsakoff, another Russian, and one who in the matter of costumes 
did her utmost to outvie both Princess Metternich and La 
Castiglione. Yet another prominent lady of Muscovite origin was 
Mile. Helen Haritoff, niece of M. Garfunkel, the banker, who, 
for her part, was content to be lively and charming. After her 
marriage to Captain Leopold Magnan, the Marshal's son, in 
1861, she was received with marked favour by the Empress 
Eugenie. Four of her sisters-in-law. Marshal Magnan's 
daughters, figured at Court, where during their earlier seasons 
they were known as " the Dresden chinas." They often took 
part in the private theatricals of the time, and speedily finding 
suitors they became respectively Mesdames Barrachin, Cottreau, 
Haentjens, and Legendre. Reverting, however, to the Russian 
elegantes., we must not omit from our list the Duchess de 

* See ante, p, 26. 



288 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Morny, previously Princess Troubetskoi,* for during several 
years her position in France was of the highest. 

Reared at the court of St. Petersburg among the Maids of 
Honour, and said to be really a natural daughter of the 
Emperor Nicholas, she was still in her teens in February, 1857, 
— the date of her marriage with Morny — a marriage which was 
distinctly favoured by Alexander II., who, after it had been 
arranged, settled, according to some accounts, a considerable sum 
of money on the charming but portionless bride. Nevertheless, 
the marriage did not take place without difficulty and delay, 
owing largely to Morny 's position with respect to the Countess 
Zoe Lehon, that greatly admired "blue-eyed Iris," whom we 
previously had occasion to mention.f The daughter of the 
Flemish financier Mosselman, and born at his Paris establish- 
ment in the Chaussee d''Antin, she married in 1827 Charles 
Aime Lehon of Tournay, one of the founders of the Belgian 
monarchy. Nine years later Leopold I. created Lehon a Count, 
and subsequently appointed him Belgian Minister in Paris, 
which post he retained for a dozen years. In 1842, however, 
when the Count had lost a good deal of money, owing to the 
frauds of his brother, a notary, the court of Tournay decreed a 
judicial separation between him and his wife with regard to 
their respective property, which separation soon extended, 
de facto if not legally, to their marital relations also. The 
Countess Lehon's wealth, with which she so largely assisted her 
lover Morny in his earlier career, was derived chiefly from the 
large interest which her father had bequeathed to her in the 
famous mines of La Vieille Montague, near Moresnet, north- 
east of Liege — mines renowned in those days for their deposits 
of coal, iron, copper, and lead, as well as zinc, in such forms 
as blende and calamine. The Countess's salon in Paris was 
distinctly an Orleanist one, being frequented notably by the 
sons of Louis Philippe, as well as by Van Praet, the Belgian 
politician, Thouvenel, subsequently one of Napoleon IH.'s 
Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and most of the diplomatists of 
the time. Count Lehon, born in 1792, was some seventeen 
years older than his wife, who, it is certain, long hoped that 
Morny would marry her as soon as she should be free. It so 

* See also antz, p. 29. f See ante, p. 26. 



SOME STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATISTS 289 

happened that in 1856 the Count was very ill and not expected 
to recover,* and thus the Countess could not control her 
indignation on hearing of Morny's projected marriage with 
the youthful Princess Troubetskoi. Dramatic incidents marked 
the negotiations which ensued, and it was only by a payment 
of about d^'100,000 that Morny was able to free himself from 
his long entanglement. The Countess Lehon had two sons 
and a daughter. One of the former. Count Leopold, became 
a naturalized French subject and sat in the Legislative Body 
of the Empire as a deputy for the Ain.f His wife, a beautiful 
woman, often figured at Court, and some ill-informed writers 
have more than once confounded her with her mother-in-law. 
The latter's daughter, Mile. Louise Lehon, married Prince 
Stanislas Poniatowski, son of Prince Joseph, the senator of 
the Second Empire, in June, 1856 ; and after Morny's marriage 
early in the following year, the Countess Lehon, her children 
being established in life, withdrew altogether from society. 
She Avas almost forgotten when she passed away in the Rue de 
Tilsitt, Paris, early in March, 1880. 

The half-brother of Napoleon III. found a devoted wife in 
the Princess Troubetskoi. We have previously referred to her 
beauty — she was a Greuze — and it may be added that her 
training at the Court of Russia had qualified her for the 
highest position. Her husband was conspicuous in society and 
powerful in politics. It has been said of Morny that he did 
most things, and did them well. Certainly nobody was more 
skilful in making money, nobody more lavish in spending it. 
Some have asserted that he presided over the Legislative Body 
of the Empire with an elegance and distinction unequalled 
by any other parliamentary president; but his amiability, 
his smiles, and his jests were, in reality, similar to those 
of a wild beast tamer, whose helles manieres are assumed 
to curry favour with the gallery, and who, in dealing with 
his beasts, neither forgets that he has a whip in his hand nor 
hesitates, when occasion arises, to use it. At heart Morny 
detested parliamentary institutions, and felt no little scorn for 
the men who sat under him. Yet he certainly managed the 

* He did recover, however, and survived until April 30, 1868. 
t He died, October 31, 1879. 

U 



290 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Legislative Body with skill, and when tact became necessary he 
could show it. His political role was by no means confined to 
his duties as President of the Chamber. That position gave 
him access to the Council of Ministers, and he did no little 
work behind the scenes, either in the council or in private 
conferences with the Emperor. 

His death, in March, 1865, was a great surprise, both to the 
Court and the general public. He had been suflPering for a 
month past from neuralgic trouble, coupled with symptoms 
suggestive of the influenza of these later days. He frequently 
complained of feeling run-down, exhausted, feverish, and sleepy. 
Nevertheless, Trousseau, Ricord, and other medical men, whom 
he consulted, detected nothing serious. Indeed, at the end 
of February the Duke seemed to be much better, and on the 
28th, Shrove Tuesday, he drove out. But on his return home 
he complained that he felt as if he were on fire. Bronchitis 
supervened, but did not cause much anxiety. Preparations 
for a grand mid-Lent fete at the Palais Bourbon went on as a 
matter of course. But all at once an ardent fever again came 
upon the Duke, delirium followed, and the doctors declared 
that there was little hope of saving his life. He could no 
longer take food, his throat contracted till it was almost 
closed, and it was even difficult for him to speak. He was 
dying of a form of pancreatitis, a complaint of which medical 
science knew little or nothing before the discoveries of Claude 
Bernard. It must be said that he died bravely. Aware 
that his case was hopeless, he gave instructions about his will, 
and took leave of a number of his friends, as well as of his wife 
and their four young children. On the evening of March 9, 
news reached the Tuileries that he was sinking fast. Thereupon 
the Empieror and Empress drove to his residence, but on 
their arrival they found that he was delirious and unable to 
recognize them. Napoleon seated himself at the bedside, and 
took hold of his brother's hand, while the Empress fell upon 
her knees and prayed. After remaining there about half an 
hour, they withdrew to an adjoining room. A little later 
lucidity returned to Morny, and Count de Flahault (his father), 
who had arrived, told him of the Emperor''s visit, adding : 
"He is still in the house. Shall he come back.^" "Yes, 



SOME STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATISTS 291 

yes," gasped the dying man, " let him come to me." Napoleon 
then returned to the sick-room, but only a few words were 
exchanged, for delirium speedily reappeared. The Emperor 
then finally retired, shaken by convulsive sobs, and holding 
his hands to his face. 

About one o''clock in the morning the last agony seemed 
imminent, and a messenger was sent for the Archbishop of 
Paris, who came and administered the viaticum. Some six 
or seven hours later, when the doctor in attendance entered 
the room, the valet who had devotedly nursed the Duke 
throughout his illness, said to him : " Monsieur le Due is 
going fast." " Oh, the end will not come for some hours 
yet," the doctor answered; "but that blister makes him suffer 
without doing him any good. We must remove it." They 
then went to turn the Duke on his side, but at that same 
moment he gave a slight sigh and expired. Thus died the 
man who made Napoleon III., Emperor of the French.* 

The young Duchess displayed great grief. In accordance 
with the Russian custom, she had her splendid hair cut off" close 
to the head, and laid the long, fair tresses between her husband's 
hands in his coffin. For a long time, by her instructions, a 
cover was laid for him at every meal, as if he were still alive. 
But sorrow is seldom eternal, and, in 1867, Mme, de Morny 
became the wife of the Duke de Sesto.f 

Very pompous were the obsequies of Napoleon"'s half-brother. 
The entry of his birth in the register of Versailles had been 
attested merely by a cobbler and a jobbing tailor, but all the 
great officers of state, thousands of troops, and half the 
population of Paris witnessed his funeral. He left a fairly 
large fortune for that period, but he had long lived in a 
style which had precluded the saving of money. For instance, 
there was his stud, which, at the time of his death, numbered 
145 horses, and cost £60 a day, or nearly .£22,000 per annum. 
Yet the total proceeds of the sale of those animals at Chantilly 
were under ,£'13,000. It is true that the Duke's pictures and 
other oeuvres cVart fetched better prices, amounting to about 

* Private narrative of the Duke's valet. 

t Three of her four children are, we believe, still alive — the Duke and the 
Marquis de Morny, as well as the daughter who became Marchioness de 
Belboeuf. 



292 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

^100,000, or, roughly, a quarter of his fortune. On the 
other hand, during the last decade of his life he had spent 
quite <£*40,000 a year. 

He was succeeded for a while in the Presidency of the 
Chamber by Count Walewski, who cut a poor figure in the 
post, being far better suited to diplomacy, and, one may add, 
far more of a gentleman than Morny ; for, whatever might 
have been the latter's grand seigneur manner, the insolence of 
a grand seigneur towards inferiors had been blended with it 
too often. Walewsti, however, was uniformly urbane and 
considerate. He amassed no fortune. When he died, in 1868, 
Mme. Walewski was left with perhaps £1000 a year, and was 
glad of her appointment as Lady of Honour to the Empress. 
She willingly surrendered the Landes property given to her 
husband by the Emperor, for numerous expenses attached 
to it, expenses for which there could be little or no return for 
several years. In writing previously concerning this lady,* 
we should have said that, in 1877, she contracted a second 
marriage — one with Signor Guiseppe Alessandro of Palermo. 
She was pensioned by the present Republic. 

Walewski''s successor at the Chamber was the great iron- 
master of Le Creusot, M. Schneider,! who had long been one 
of the Vice-Presidents, in such wise that on occasions when 
he had taken the chair, jocular deputies had remarked : " See 
Avhat an aristocrat M. de Morny is. He can't come himself, 
so he has sent us his tailor." The reader may remember that 
it was for attacking M. Schneider as M. Tailleur, that Mme. 
Rattazzi was exiled from France.^ That play on the meaning 
of M. Schneider's name was not, perhaps, in the best of taste. 
A more amusing appellation, however, was found for him as 

* See ante, pp.' 70, 154, 160, 179. 

t Eugene Schneider, born in 1805, died in 1875, President of the 
Legislative Body from 1865 till September 4, 1870. 

X See ante, p. 214. She was, in her way, a wonderful woman — one, 
too, who contrived to dispose of three husbands of different nationalities ; 
first, Count Friedrichi Solms, a German, next Urbano Eattazzi, the eminent 
Italian statesman, and finally Senor Luis de Kute, an es-Secretary of State in 
Spain. At one time. La Eattazzi's declared ambition was to become the 
Mme. de Stael of the Second Empire, but it was in vain that she piled up 
volumes of history, poetry, romance, politics, and travels, Few were regid, 
and all are now forgotten. 



I 



SOME STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATISTS S93 

time went on. Age did not deprive him of his hair, but the 
latter's hue turned from red to a snowy whiteness, which 
circumstance, combined with certain gestures to which M. 
Schneider was addicted when he occupied the presidential 
chair, procured him the name of the White Rabbit, as if, 
indeed, he had been one of those toy, drum-beating rabbits 
beloved of childhood. Schneider was a very shrewd man, with 
but one defect as President of the Chamber : he talked too 
much, he explained too much, he always seemed to fear that 
the deputies did not understand him. However, he retained 
his post till the end — the bitter end — doing, vainly, of course, 
all he could do to save the Empire. 

The death of Morny had been preceded by that of Billault,* 
the most dexterous of all Napoleon III.''s ministers, a skilful and 
resolute man, one who was never at a loss in a difficulty, who 
was always prepared to assume an amiable expression even when 
he was acting most despotically — in fact, the very man the 
regime needed. Short and slight, with a shrewd face and 
courtly manners, he was a Breton by birth, married to a 
daughter of one of the chief shipowners of Nantes ; and he had 
come to the front very rapidly in his original profession, that 
of the bar. Moreover, at the age of thirty-five he was already 
under-secretary of State to Thiers. But his Liberalism did not 
survive the success of the Coup d'Etat. Taking the tide at 
its flood, he caused it to bear him to the highest position as 
Minister of State and speaker for the Imperial Government. 
He was often taunted with his earlier career. One day in the 
Senate, while he was singing the praises of the Coup d'Etat, 
Prince Napoleon suddenly exclaimed : " That's why you voted 
against Napoleon when I voted for him ! " And amidst the 
general uproar the Prince added : " Yes, you voted for Cavaignac ; 
I know it ! " The Minister could only stammer in reply : " But 
for ten years past, having seen the Emperor at work, I have 
served him with fidelity and honour.*" 

" Honour" was perhaps de trop^ for Billault had been guilty 

of an infamous action ; he had sent a former friend, an advocate 

named Sandon, to the madhouse of Charenton on the pretext 

that he was insane. It is true that Sandon had tried to 

* Auguste Adolphe Billault ; born November, 1805. 



294 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

blackmail him by threatening to divulge certain letters in which 
Billault, before the Coup d'Etat, had written what he really- 
thought of Napoleon III. Nevertheless, the man was not mad, 
and Billault's action, in which medical practitioners of standing 
and officers of the law acted as his accomplices, was a gross 
abuse of authority, a revival, so to say, of the old lettre-de- 
cacliet system. There was some little scandal about the affair 
already in Billault's lifetime, a petition on Sandon's behalf 
being addressed to the Senate, but it was only after the Minister's 
sudden death in 1863 that the spurious madman recovered his 
liberty. Three years later Persigny wrote to Conti, the 
Emperor's Chef-de-cabinet, " M. Billaulfs conduct was beyond 
belief. The man whom he victimized is on the point of 
surrendering himself into the hands of the Opposition. We 
may have a frightful scandal. It seems that everything might be 
arranged for 20,000 or 30,000 francs which Conneau would under- 
take to draw from the funds {i.e. the Privy Purse). Besides, a 
frightful iniquity was committed and must be repaired." The 
Emperor, however, though he had given Billault a fine mansion 
near the Boulevards, refused to pay for his sins ; and, though 
Sandon ultimately brought the affair before the courts, he 
obtained no compensation. 

After the death of Billault came the pre-eminence of M. 
Rouher,* that vastly over-rated Auvergnat advocate, unparalleled 
for haughtiness and insolence by any statesman of any period 
and any country. That " Vice-Emperor," as he became from 
1866 to 1869, did much harm to the Empire. His utterances 
were often most unlucky, his predictions almost invariably 
falsified by events. His meddling in foreign affairs had deplor- 
able consequences. It is well known that Benedetti, the 
French representative at Berlin, communicated with Rouher 
over the head of his hierarchical chief, Drouyn de Lhuys, in 
moments of vital importance, such as the Prusso-Austrian 
war of 1866. Rouher was at that time one of the dupes of 
Bismarck ; like the Palais Royal party, he favoured an under- 
standing with Prussia; he opposed in the council all idea of 
intervention or demonstration ; he thwarted the sensible policy 

* Eugene Bouher, born at Riom, November, 1814 ; died at Paris, February, 
1884. 



SOME STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATISTS 295 

of Drouyn de Lhuys, and scorned the statesmanlike advice of 
the Queen of Holland ; he played a leading part in the pro- 
posals that France should obtain, with Prussian connivance, 
" compensation " on the Rhine or in Belgium ; and it was at 
his chateau of Cergay that the invaders of 1870 discovered 
confirmatory evidence respecting the damnifying documents 
on the subject of that " compensation," which Benedetti so 
foolishly left in Bismarck's hands. Rouher lacked, indeed, even 
the common-sense and foresight to destroy the proofs he held of 
the unscrupulous imbecility of the imperial policy in 1866, for 
which policy he was so largely responsible. 

For the rest, there was a good deal of Barnum and some- 
thing of Legree in Ilouher''s composition. He could bluster 
well enough when he felt himself the stronger. But, like most 
bullies, he was a coward at heart. He had behaved as one at 
the Coup d'Etat, and it followed, as a matter of course, that he 
could muster no courage at the Revolution. On the other 
hand, in minor offices of state, he showed himself a hard 
worker. He was also a ready, fluent speaker, with a gift of 
alternately pompous and vulgar eloquence. He possessed, 
moreover, a decorative presence which deceived superficial 
observers as to the real extent of his capabilities. He had a 
fine head set on a broad-shouldered frame, which unluckily 
became over-stout in his last years. He was married to a 
dark, plump, little woman of his own part of France, who seldom 
appeared at Court, but who was nicknamed La petite Prune by 
that lively " lady of the palace," Mme. de Sancy de Parabere, 
who, on her side, and by reason of her disputatious nature, 
received the nickname of Corse entetee from the Empress. 

We cannot pass every one of Napoleon's ministers in review. 
After all, they were for the most part but secondary figures at 
the Court, and a glance at a few of them will sufiice. The last 
Ministers of the Interior, Ernest Pinard, Forcade de la Roquette, 
Chevandier de Valdrome (nicknamed " the white horse " because 
he cantered about on horseback at popular demonstrations) and 
Chevreau (for a while Haussmann's successor as Prefect in Paris) 
were all failures. The personality of Pinard, who has left an 
interesting " Journal " throwing light on the home-policy of 
the Empire, and who came to grief over all the newspaper 



£96 TR^ COURT OP THE TUILERIES 

prosecutions, the Baudin subscriptions and demonstrations in 

1868, is of interest to students of Gustave Flaubert's writings. 
It was Pinard who spoke for the prosecution when proceedings 
were instituted against " Mme. Bovary ; " and his " Journal " * 
shows that he went into the affair with distaste and distrust, 
but that having been designated as prosecuting counsel, he 
thought it would be cowardly to decline the duty. He seems 
also to have had a real grievance respecting the report of his 
speech as given in editions of " Mme. Bovary " issued seventeen 
years after the proceedings. 

As for Forcade de la Roquette, Marshal St. Arnaud's step- 
brother, he served as chief minister during the latter part of 

1869, when the Emperor's inclination towards a more liberal 
policy (consequent on the result of the general elections) led to 
the resignation of Rouher and others. After Forcade de la 
Roquette came Emile Ollivier, of whom we shall speak in due 
course, but another prominent minister of the reign we may 
mention here was Magne, who, like Rouher, had a belle tete, 
who like him dabbled disastrously in foreign politics, and 
who managed yet more disastrously his own particular depart- 
ment of Finance. Fould had struggled bravely, if often 
unsuccessfully, against the ever-growing extravagance of the 
Empire, but his successor accepted, even encouraged it. If 
the Empress was the Marie Antoinette, then Magne was 
certainly the Calonne of the Empire. His administration of 
French finances may be summed up in few words : it was a mere 
policy of loans. There was also Delangle, a Minister of the 
Interior (later of Justice) who was possessed of some capacity 
and liberalism, and came as welcome relief after the horrible 
General Espinasse and the law of public safety (1859-60). 
Again, there was the sententious law-twisting Baroche, whose 
last appointment was that of President of the Council of State 
and expounder of Government measures to the Chamber. He 
came into violent collision with Rochefort and the other 
adversaries of the Empire, and fell with Rouher. 

Then, long a Minister de facto if not in name, there was 
Baron Haussmann, the famous Prefect of the Seine, who purified 

* Pierre Ernest Pinard (born 1822, died 1896), "Mon Journal," 3 vols., 
Paris, 1892, 1893. 



SOME STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATISTS 297 

and embellished the city of Paris, but at the same time plunged 
it into debt. It was shown by the parliamentary debates in 
1869 that some £90,000,000 had then been actually paid for 
the Paris improvements, and that over £40,000,000 were owing 
on account of them. Onerous loans also had been contracted 
with the Credit Foncier, which, in order to save its governor, 
Fremy, from prosecution, had to reimburse some £700,000. 
However, to enable the city to continue its work, and pay 
interest on its debts, it was authorized to borrow another 
£18,600,000. Since then Republican administrations have spent 
over £100,000,000 in perfecting Paris. In Haussmann's days 
there was undoubtedly great financial mismanagement, but, 
if the work was done regardless of expense it was also done 
well; and in these later times a more indulgent view has 
been taken of the Baron''s administration. In twelve years he 
achieved more than his predecessors had achieved in a century. 
And, whatever might be the illicit gains of certain speculators, 
his own hands, as we remarked once before, remained clean. A 
Parisian by birth, vigorous, handsome, with a beardless face 
and laughing eyes, he was a man who cared nothing for money. 
His despotic, enthusiastic, all-absorbing passion was to build 
his native city afresh, cleanse it, beautify it, make it the wonder 
of the world. And, as the Emperor — lavish on his own side as 
Haussmann was on his — shared that same passion, the Baron, 
until the days of Ollivier, remamed persona gratissima at court. 
He had a charming and beautiful daughter, who figured promi- 
nently at the Tuileries both before and after her marriage to 
Viscount Pernetty. Those who libelled her father did not 
scruple to libel her also, and in a particularly abominable 
manner. But passons. 

Probably the Ministers of the Empire most frequently 
seen at the Tuileries were those who were entrusted with the 
department of Foreign Affairs, for they constantly worked 
with the Emperor. Among them was Walewski, of whom 
we have repeatedly spoken, and who, like Marshal Randon and 
the Duke de Padoue, ranked among the " elegant" ministers of 
the reign. There was also Thouvenel, Walewski's successor, an 
ex -ambassador at Constantinople and a man of uncommon 
ability, who was sacrificed because he failed to effect an 



298 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

impossible modus vivendi between Italy and the Pope. There was, 
too, in particular, Drou3^n de Lhuys, who served as Foreign 
Minister at various periods, and who, had he been allowed a 
free hand, might possibly have extricated France from her 
difficulties, with regard both to Mexico, the Schleswig-Holstein 
question, and the predominance of Prussia in Germany. He, at 
all events, distrusted Bismarck from the outset, as many 
documents show, but he was thwarted by Rouher, Benedetti, 
and others, overruled by his imperial master, and finally threw 
up his post in disgust. Then came the Marquis de Moustier, 
the Marquis de La Valette, Count Napoleon Daru, Duke Agenor 
de Gramont, and the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne, all nominally 
at the head of a foreign policy which became more and more 
incoherent as the influence of Rouher or the Empress Eugenie 
predominated. 

With respect to the foreign ambassadors at the Court of the 
Tuileries, we have already spoken of Prince Metternich, Count 
Nigra, and Count Kisseleff; Prussia (and later the North 
German Confederation) was represented in Paris during the 
greater part of the reign by Baron Goltz, an expert diplo- 
matist, in whom Bismarck had much confidence, and who for 
several years contributed powerfully to ward off war between his 
own country and France. He was, by the way, both by his 
birth and his death, somewhat of a Frenchman, for he had come 
into the world at the Prussian embassy in Paris, and he died at 
a Biarritz hotel. He had a very pleasant, tactful way, with 
some wit. On one occasion in 1866, during the Prusso-Austrian 
war, when the victors were levying large contributions on all 
the German cities they entered, the Emperor Napoleon remarked 
to Goltz that he regarded such treatment as very oppressive. 
And he instanced the case of Frankfort, where Vogel von 
Falkenstein and ManteufFel had levied between them over 
thirty millions of florins. " Surely that is too harsh,"" said the 
Emperor. " Oh dear no,"' replied Baron Goltz, smiling, " your 
Majesty forgets that Frankfort is the city of the Rothschilds." 
What would he have said had he lived to witness the German 
exactions in France in 1870-71? One can picture him 
remarking, with a chuckle, that the war levy of eight millions 
sterling paid by Paris was by no means too large for the city on 
which Haussmann had spent twenty times that sum. 



SOME STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATISTS 299 

Count Solms took charge of the North German embassy 
after Goltz's death in 1869. Then came Baron von Werther, 
whose nomination to the post, though nobody noticed it, was 
very inauspicious. The war of 1866 had followed his appoint- 
ment to Vienna, and that of 1870 followed his appointment to 
Paris. He was Vamhassadeur fatal. Russia*'s representative in 
France after Kisseleff 's time was Baron Budberg, who fought 
a savage duel with his colleague, Baron MeyendorfF, and was 
succeeded by Count Stackelberg. Belgium long entrusted her 
interests to spruce little Baron Beyens, of whom it was said : 
" If ever you see Beyens near a petticoat you may be sure that 
it has a very pretty face." There were also occasional gorgeous 
embassies from distant lands, such as Persia and Siam and 
Japan, embassies which afforded no little entertainment at 
Court, where not even the Japanese were taken au serieux. The 
American diplomatists in Paris had a trying time during 
the Civil War and the Mexican affair, but at a later date 
General Dix achieved considerable social success, it being under 
his patronage that the Court was first really invaded by a host 
of American beauties. Mr. Washburne, the last of the 
American envoys to the Empire, was, perhaps, too sincere a 
Republican to be altogether suitable to the Tuileries. 

As for Great Britain, her representatives. Lord Cowley and 
Lord Lyons, were both men of high ability. It was said they did 
not entertain sufficiently, but the salary attached to the Paris 
embassy was not adequate for the time — nor is it now — and 
Cowley had reasons for husbanding his fortune, while Lord 
Lyons's was small. Cowley's task as a diplomatist was often 
most arduous, and great credit attaches to him for the manner 
in which he contrived to prevent any rupture between France 
and Great Britain amid the many difficulties which arose. 
Lord Lyons appeared on the scene at a much later date, and his 
career in Paris belongs, perhaps, more to the third Republic 
than to the Empire. Still, as we all know, both by suggestions 
to his own government and suggestions to the imperial govern- 
ment, he did all that lay in his power to prevent the war which 
swept the Empire away and mutilated France. Here let us 
pause in our survey of the men and women of the time, and pass 
to another phase of the Court life. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE IMPERIAL STABLES — FEMININE FASHIONS— SOME 
FEATURES OP PARIS LIFE 

The Imperial Stables — The appointments of Fleury and Ney — The cost of the 
stables — The grand Gala Carriages — The Empress's Gift to the Duke 
d'Aumale — The Head Piqueur and others — Some of the Wages — The 
Posting Service— The " Petit Service " and Mr. Bridges — The Estafette 
Service — The Preliminary Ceremonial to a Drive — The Emperor's Phaeton 
Horses — His Speed and his Mishaps while Driving — The Saddle Service 
and Mr. Gamble — The Emperor's favourite Saddle Horses — Lizzy, the 
English Mare of the Coup d'Etat — The Emperor's Chargers — The 
Empress's Service — Her " Due " and her favourite Horses — The Imperial 
Equerries — The Emperor and Count Lagrange — Life in Paris — Feminine 
Fashions — Great Costumiers and Milliners — A Peep into Worth's — The 
Crinoline and Principles of Dress — Colours of the Empire — The famous 
Bismarck Hue — Some striking Gowns — The Jargon of Fashion — The 
Chignon and the Bonnet — -Strange Boots and Wonderful Garters — 
Eccentric Jewellery — Seven Toilettes a Day — -Court Trains — Fashions for 
Men — The Boulevards, their Restaurants, Clubs, and Cafe's — The Hour of 
Absinthe— The Drive in the Bols — A great Gambling Scandal — Journalism, 
Literature, Science, and Fads. 

We mentioned in an early section of this work that the 
Imperial Stables were organized by Count Fleury, just as the 
Hunt was organized by the Prince de la Moskowa, Edgar Ney.* 
There was at first some difficulty respecting the appointments. 
At the period immediately following the Coup d'Etat, Fleury 
was neither a Count nor Ney a Prince, and the Emperor felt 
that he could not appoint them as Great Equerry and Great 
Huntsman. Wishing to assemble around the new throne as 
many as possible of the famous names of the First Empire, he 
proposed to give the former post to Caulaincourt Duke de 
Vicence, and the second to Berthier Prince de Wagram, and 
he fancied that Fleury and Ney would be willing to serve 
under them as First Equerry and First Huntsman respectively 
* See ante, pp. 50 and 52, 



THE IMPERIAL STABLES 301 

But Fleury, who rightly felt that he knew a great deal more 
about horses than Caulaincourt did, and Ney, who rightly held 
that his name and origin were fully equal to Berthier's, were 
greatly offended by the suggestion. Besides, there was the 
question of giving high Court offices to men who had taken no 
part in the Coup d'Etat, when others had staked their lives and 
fortunes. That was the objection which Fleury, conscious of 
the fact that he could not himself as yet claim the highest rank, 
laid before the Emperor, Avho met it by proposing Marshals 
Sb. Arnaud and Magnan for the chief offices, or rather the 
ornamental dignity attaching to them. That arrangement was 
accepted by Fleury and Ney, as they were quite disposed to 
serve under the Marshals, whom, as we previously said, they 
ultimately succeeded. They were the very men for the duties 
they undertook, and in their respective spheres they contributed 
in no small degree to the splendour or enjoyment of the 
Imperial Court. 

The reader may wonder what an Emperor's stables may cost. 
We will at least tell him what Napoleon HI. spent on his. The 
average number of horses which the stables contained was 
320, whose food alone, at the rate of £38 per head per 
annum, cost dfPlSjlGO. But that was merely an item. There 
was a large staff, and scores of salaries, amounting altogether to 
£3^,4^00 a year ; while the total annual outlay for the purchase 
and keep of horses, the purchase and upkeep of carriages, 
the repair, warming, and lighting of stables and coachhouses, 
the liveries, office expenses, stable appliances, litter, medicine, 
etc. — briefly everything classed as materiel — was, on an average, 
c£'42,100. The total annual cost, then, was =£'74,500, in return 
for which expenditure Napoleon III., the Empress Eugenie, and 
the Imperial Prince (whose minor establishments are included 
in our figures) had many of the finest horses and carriages, 
as well as some of the most efficient equerries, trainers, grooms, 
and coachmen then to be found in the Avorld. Perhaps even an 
American millionaire might contrive to spend rather less on his 
service cCecurie. But there is no gainsaying the fact that Count 
Fleury did things well. Like Haussmann, he cared nothing for 
money, he was only interested in what money could procure. 
You gave him carte hlancJie, and he in return gave you full 



302 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

value for it. As it happened, large as the total outlay may 
have been, many of the stable salaries were really small, and 
from time to time Napoleon III. had to make special grants 
from the Privy Purse. 

But let us consider the carriages, particularly the gala ones, 
which were kept at Trianon, and only brought to Paris on 
grand occasions. There was the so-called Coronation Coach, a 
masterpiece in its way, built for the coronation of Charles X., 
and completely restored — in fact modified — in 1852. The 
upholstery was of superb crimson velvet, with embroidery and 
tassels of gold. The eight glass panels were separated from 
each other by gilded caryatides and figures of fame ; round the 
roof there was a gallery of gilded bronze ; at each corner an 
eagle, also of gilded bronze; and on the summit a dazzling 
imperial crown. The body was richly carved and gilded, 
ornamented, too, with chiselled and gilded bronze work ; and 
the harness was of red morocco with gilded ornaments. Before 
the coach was restored it had been valued at ,£2400. In 
restoring and modifying it Fleury spent £364!0. And through- 
out the whole period of the Empire it was used on only one 
occasion — the baptism of the Imperial Prince. 

The second coach, known as the "Voiture du Bapteme," 
served both then and at the marriage of Napoleon III., as well 
as at Queen Victoria's departure from Paris in 1855 and on 
other special occasions. It had seven glass panels, was richly 
carved and gilded, and lined with white satin. Then came the 
Topaz, the Turquoise, the Diamond, the Opal, the Amethyst, 
the Cornaline, and the Victory coaches, all superbly decorated 
and gilded, several thousands of pounds being spent upon them 
under Fleury's orders. Further, he provided, for the gala and 
semi-gala services, eighteen berlines built by Ehrler of Paris. 
These also displayed no little gilding and bronze work, corner 
eagles, imperial escutcheons, and linings of white, green, and 
red satin. Finally, there was a very striking caTeche de gala, 
called La Cybele, which, after being built for Napoleon I., had 
passed into the possession of Louis Philippe''s consort. Queen 
Marie Amelie. At the time of the restoration of the Empire, 
this coach was purchased by Napoleon III. for the small sum 
of .£'400, and was duly restored. No use, however, was made 



THE IMPERIAL STABLES 303 

of it ; like the coronation coach, it simply remained on show at 
Trianon. Some years subsequent to the fall of the Empire, 
when nearly all those vehicles which were not state property 
had been disposed of, it occurred to the Empress Eugenie to 
offer La Cybele to the Duke d'Aumale, who, she thought, might 
be glad to find room for it in his splendid coachhouses at 
Chantilly. With this offer was coupled a request that the 
Duke would refrain from thanking her. Made in an indirect 
manner, the offer was accepted, and the Duke d'Aumale 
requested Queen Victoria to express to the Empress his 
appreciation of this gift of a carriage which his mother had 
frequently used. Two years later the Empress was spending 
the winter in the environs of Naples when the Duke, on his 
way to his Sicilian vineyards, made a short stay in that city. 
Hearing that the Empress was in the neighbourhood, he decided 
to call upon her, taking her gift of La Cybele as his pretext. 
It thus came to pass that these representatives of two dynasties 
which had once reigned over France, met for the first time. 
The Empress, be it added, was then already a widow, and her 
son was dead. 

The head " Piqueur " of the imperial carriage service was 
M. Thuillier, who had previously been in the employment of 
the Marquis de Las Marismas, and who retained his post under 
Fleury until the fall of the Empire. With Thuillier there 
were several subordinate piqueurs, who had served Louis Philippe 
and the Duchess de Berry. Some of the imperial coachmen 
and postilions had had a similar experience. One of the latter 
had even overturned Louis Philippe and his family into a ditch 
one day, in the environs of Treport — an accident which did not 
prevent Fleury from engaging him. Among the coachmen, 
Chapelle had received as a lad his first training in the stables of 
Napoleon I., and had driven both Louis XVIII. and Charles X. 
As we have already indicated, the wages of these men were not 
high. The head piqueur received =£^240 a year, the second <£144, 
three others £1^0 apiece, while each of the remaining four had 
to be content with from .^^'SO to ,£90. The coachmen's wajres 
were as follows : Six of the first-class, £11 each ; seven of the 
second-class, £12 each ; four of the third-class, ^£"60 each, and 
four others, £5Q each ; while the remuneration of the twenty 



304 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

postilions varied from £4<4! to .£50. However, the mere perso7iiiel 
of the carriage service comprised another eighty men of various 
categories, with salaries ranging from ^£'48 to dS'lSO — the last 
figures representing the emoluments of the chef de carrosserie et 
sellerie. 

There was also a posting service organized by Fleury in 
conjunction with Baron de Pierres. At that time, it must be 
remembered, railway communication was still very imperfect in 
some parts of the country, and when the Court was sojourning 
in the provinces, it often became necessary to post from place 
to place. Baron de Pierres, a native of the west of France, 
secured for the posting service, when it was first started, some 
forty Norman bay mares, which cost, on an average, £%% apiece, 
and he also recruited in Normandy the first dozen postilions. 
The number of the latter was subsequently raised to twenty, 
and that of the mares to seventy. It had become known, how- 
ever, that the animals were required for the Emperor, and the 
prices consequently went up to about i?48. In the last years 
of the Empire, when, apparently, mares of the required class 
were no longer so plentiful as formerly, as much as £h% was 
paid for one of them. The chief head-quarters of the posting 
service was at St. Cloud, but in the winter a "brigade" was 
quartered at the imperial stables near the Pont de TAlma in 
Paris, for the Emperor's use whenever he went hunting or 
shooting in the immediate environs of the capital. Brigades 
of the posting service always followed the Court to Compiegne, 
Fontainebleau, and its other places of sojourn in the provinces, 
the postilions being employed for the large four and six horse 
chars-a-hancs occupied by the Court guests. 

One brigade of the carriage service (that of the petit service, 
in fact) was lodged at the Tuileries. It included the Emperor's 
brougham and phaeton horses, the Empress's blue landau 
horses, and the brougham horses of the officials on duty. At 
the head of this service was an Englishman, named, we think, 
Bridges, or Briggs, who, in later years, when Marshal MacMahon 
became President of the Republic, was engaged to direct the 
stables at the Elysee Palace, and who finally entered the service 
of the Count de Paris. Bridges trained and exercised all the 
Emperor's phaeton and brougham horses. Under his orders 



THE IMPERIAL STABLES 305 

were Cerf, the Emperor's special brougham-coachman, and 
others who drove the broughams assigned to the aides-de-camp, 
orderlies, and chamberlains. Several horses were always kept 
harnessed in the palace stables, in such wise that whenever the 
Emperor wished to send any officer to one or another part of 
Paris, the envoy was able to start at once. It should also be 
mentioned that there was an imperial estafette service of five 
men, one of whom was always in attendance in an ante-room 
at the Tuileries, ready, at a moment's notice, to mount on 
horseback and carry any letter or despatch to its destination. 
These estafettes had a courier-like uniform, that is, a short 
green and gold jacket, a red waistcoat, white leather breeches, 
long boots, a gold-braided hat with the tricolour cockade, and 
a gold belt from which a long hunting-knife depended. They 
rode fast Norman mares, and in the streets of Paris everybody 
had to make way for them, as is done in London for the royal 
mail and the fire brigade. 

Whenever the Emperor was at the Tuileries it was, for 
several years, his habit to drive out almost every day in a 
phaeton, accompanied by an aide-de-camp. As a rule the 
equerry on duty presented himself every morning at eleven 
o'clock to take the sovereign's orders, and at the hour appointed 
for the drive (or ride, as the case might be) he returned to 
announce that the horses were ready. All the officers on duty 
that day, the aide-de-camp, the chamberlain, the prefect of the 
palace, and the orderlies, then mustered in the chamberlains' 
salon, through which the Emperor passed on his way out, every- 
thing which he might require, hat, overcoat, gloves, cane or 
riding- whip, being deposited on a table there. The Emperor 
came in, exchanged a few words with the officers, and put on or 
took up whatever he might want. The ushers then threw the 
folding doors open, and, preceded by the chamberlain and the 
equerry, the Emperor passed through the ante-rooms, on either 
side of which the footmen were drawn up at attention. At the 
moment the sovereign reached the vestibule the Suisse on duty 
there struck the marble flooring with his staff, crying aloud, 
" The Emperor ! " Then, while Napoleon was mounting on 
horseback or getting into his carriage, the guard turned out, 
the drums beat, and the colours saluted, the same ceremony 
taking place on the return to the palace. 



30G THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

There were always some sev6n or eight pairs of phaeton 
horses at the Tuileries. Those which the Emperor preferred 
were two American bays, Good Hope and American, which had 
cost o£'600, and two EngHsh bays. Flick and Flock, for which 
the same amount had been paid by Count Fleury. They were 
remarkably fast and even trotters and were never known to 
break into a gallop. Among the other pairs were Commodore 
and General, Pretty and Fulton — all English, and costing =£'600 
a pair — and Ohio and San tana, Jerry and Jackson, Jersey and 
Cob — all American, and costing from £360 to d£'480 a pair. 
Nearly all the brougham horses were Russian, the finest ones, 
Peterhof and Dnieper, having been given to Napoleon by 
Czar Alexander II. There were also two fine pairs from the 
famous Orloff stud, the prices of which ranged from =£"500 to 
i?720. 

To give an idea of the speed at which Napoleon drove, it 
may be stated as a fact that he invariably covered the distance 
between the chateau of St. Cloud and the Tuileries — six miles 
— in less than twenty minutes, that on some occasions he did so 
in fifteen minutes, and once or twice in thirteen. He was not 
a perfect driver, for he was almost invariably too severe on the 
off-side horse, and unpleasant, even disastrous, consequences 
occasionally ensued. The Duke de Conegliano recollects that 
one afternoon at Compiegne, after a ministerial council, Napo- 
leon, accompanied by an aide-de-camp, set off in his due * to 
which the American itrotters Jersey and Cob were that day 
harnessed, in order to join the Empress, who had accompanied 
the court guests on an excursion to Pierrefonds. The Emperor 
cut through the forest, forcing the pace, and driving in his 
usual impetuous and defective style, in such wise that Jersey, 
the offside horse, who was both brave and fast, drew his comrade 
Cob along as well as the carriage, until on turning into the 
Pierrefonds road, he suddenly stifled and dropped dead upon 
a heap of stones. Fortunately the Empress was near at hand 
and was able to give the Emperor and the aide-de-camp a lift 
in her char-a-bancs. On another occasion while Napoleon was 
driving in Paris at his customary speed, one of the reins broke 
and the position appeared very critical, but, fortunately^ 
* A low park phaeton. 



THE IMPERIAL STABLES 307 

on drawing near to some palings, the horses stopped short of 
their own accord. From that time forward a pair of safety-reins 
was always provided, and attached to the splash-board of the 
carriage. 

The saddle-horse service was under the orders of our old 
acquaintance the famous Mr. Gamble, who had already been in 
Napoleon's employment in England, and retained office in the 
exiled household until the funeral of the Imperial Prince, whose 
.horse he led in the procession. Gamble, who rode in much the 
same style as the Emperor, was the only man who could train a 
horse to suit him. At one moment some clever French riding- 
masters were engaged for the purpose, but their horsemanship 
was far too classical. As a rule the Emperor allowed his mounts 
considerable freedom of action and rode very little with the legs, 
but at times he suddenly and vigorously tightened his hold and 
used his horse severely. Under Mr. Gamble were two French 
piqueurs, MM. Bonigal and Glatron, well known for their fine 
horsemanship ; and at one time considerable assistance was 
rendered to the service by Count Czernowitz, a Hungarian 
exile, who accompanied the Emperor on the Solferino-Magenta 
campaign, and subsequently (at Count Fleury''s recommendation) 
entered the service of the present King of Greece, organizing 
the latter''s stables and becoming his first equerry. 

The Emperor's saddle-horses were almost invariably English, 
well formed and with good action. There were a few bays 
among them, but Napoleon's preference was for chestnuts. It 
was on an English chestnut mare, Lizzy, that he rode out of the 
Elysee Palace followed by his staff, to review the troops on the 
afternoon of the Coup d'Etat. He had previously ridden Lizzy 
in High Park, and after his election to the Presidency of the 
Republic, Gamble brought her to France, where she lived to a 
considerable age, well cared for in her decline, like a particular 
favourite of the Emperor's. 

During his earlier years of sovereignty, when Napoleon did 
not drive out in his phaeton, he rode out attended by an aide- 
de-camp, an equerry, and two grooms, proceeding, as a rule, by 
way of the Champs Elysees to the Bois de Boulogne. On those 
occasions he sometimes rode a hack, sometimes a charger. He 
was on a favourite English charger, Philip, when Pianori 



308 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

attempted his life,* and Philip was also his mount at the battle 
of Solferino, but on that occasion the unlucky horse was so 
severely punished that he died on the morrow. There were, 
however, other chargers, Ajax and Walter Scott, at the 
Emperor's disposal at the time. In 1870 four English chargers 
were provided for him, Hero, Bolero, Nabob, and Sultan ; and 
Hero was his mount at Sedan on the occasion when, before 
ordering the white flag to be hoisted, he vainly courted death 
near the brick-works of La Moncelle.f 

Except when the Empress quitted the Tuileries, incognita, 
in the morning, for some charitable purpose, her departure for 
a drive was marked by a ceremonial similar to that observed in 
the Emperor's case. Her ladies of the palace, her equerry 
and her chamberlain came down to the chamberlains' salon, 
where they were joined by all the Emperor's officers on duty, 
the two services combining to escort her Majesty to her carriage. 
The guard also turned out, and the drums beat as when the 
Emperor left the palace. At the morning drives to hospitals, 
asylums, and the homes of poor folk in whom the Empress took 
an interest, she used either a dark brougham or a blue landau, 
in any case a carriage bearing neither arms nor monogram ; 
while the coachman and footman wore long putty-coloured 
overcoats in lieu of the imperial livery. As a rule the Empress 
was only accompanied on those occasions by a lady, but now 
and then a chamberlain also went with her. At other times 
she used the Emperor's berlines and D'Aumonts, but she had 
a due of her own, which she drove a few times in the Bois de 
Boulogne, though it was usually reserved for her sojourns in 
the country. A pair of little thoroughbred mares, Hdlene and 
Isaure, or a four-hundred guinea pair of English ponies, Dove 
and Vingt-Mars, were specially assigned to that carriage. It 
should be added that the Empress's establishment Avas included 
in the Emperor's with respect to its expenses and all other 
matters excepting one, that is, her saddle-horses were under the 
direct control of her first equerry. Baron de Pierres. Of those 
horses there were about a score, not that the Empress personally 
used that number, the majority being kept for the benefit of 
the ladies of the palace and the lady guests at Compiegne, 
* See ante, p. 104, 105. f See ante, p. 54. 



THE IMPERIAL STABLES 309 

Fontainebleau, and other places. When the Empress went 
riding she was always attended by an equerry and by Baroness 
de Pierres, a fine horsewoman, of whom we spoke in an earlier 
chapter.* Her Majesty's first piqueur, who had served Louis- 
Philippe, like so many of the stable officials and domestics, only 
followed her at reviews and hunts. She had four favourite 
horses, Phoebus, Langiewicz, Elastic, and Chevreuil, the last- 
named being a capital hunter. 

Except in time of war (Italy, 1859, and France, 1870) the 
duties of the imperial equerries were light. Each had two 
horses at his disposal, which he could ride as he pleased whenever 
he was off duty. In accompanying the Emperor the aide-de- 
camp in attendance rode on the right, and the equerry on the 
left. In hunting, however, or on a country-ride, if the road 
became bad or darkness fell, it was the equerry's duty to go 
ahead and point out the right way, or anything in the nature 
of the ground that called for caution. If the Emperor were 
driving in a carriage harnessed a la d'Aumont, the equerry rode 
on the right side. Though the ordinary equerries were some- 
times numerous, they were not a source of great expense to the 
civil list, for the salary of the post was but ri6'400 a year, and 
they personally bore the cost of their various handsome undress, 
full-dress, and campaigning uniforms, in which green and gold 
predominated. The Service des Ecuries included, however, in 
addition to the Great Equerry, the First Equerry, and the 
others, a complete office-staff of secretaries and book-keepers, 
as well as a foreign correspondence clerk and an interpreter — 
the two last named being requisite on account both of the 
department's constant relations with foreign countries, notably 
with England, and the number of foreigners, chiefly English- 
men, in its employment. 

It is well known that the Emperor's interest in man's noblest 
conquest was not limited to his stables. He was fully alive to 
the necessity of improving the various French breeds of horses, 
and he promoted the establishment of several State stud-farms 
under the control of Fleury and others. He was also, in the 
matter of prizes, a very liberal patron of the turf, and the 
establishment of the racecourse of Longchamp was due as much 
* See anie, p. 71, 



310 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

to his initiative as to Morny''s. He always repaired there on 
the days when the race for the Grand Prix de Paris was run, 
and now and then at other times. We confess that we are not 
acquainted with the exact circumstances of his connection with 
the racing stable of Count Frederic Lagrange, the famous owner 
of Fille de TAir, Gladiateur, and other horses renowned in turf 
annals; but there is little doubt, we think, that at one and 
another time the Count, although a large landowner possessed 
of considerable means, received financial support from the 
Emperor. Count Lagrange was often at the Tuileries and at 
Compiegne. The son of a general officer of the first Napoleon, 
he does not appear to have been really entitled to the " de " so 
often set before his name, but he was connected by marriage 
with several great houses, notably that of the Princes de Chimay ; 
and throughout the Empire he sat in the Legislative Body for 
his native department, the Gers. Still, he did not take any 
very active part in politics until 1870, when he became a 
member of the Central Committee organized in view of the last 
Plebiscitum, his services in that matter leading to his appoint- 
ment as a senator virtually on the eve of the Franco-German 
war, in such wise that he did not long enjoy the dignity. He 
survived, however, until the close of 1883. 

The general life of Paris under the Empire scarcely comes 
within the scope of this work. It embraces, too, so many 
features that anything approaching a complete survey would 
require more pages than we can allow. It should be studied 
in the newspapers of the period, in the volumes in which clever 
journalists gathered their chroniques together, in serious works 
like that of Maxime Ducamp, and in some of the lighter ones 
such as the entertaining " Vie et Opinions de M. Graindorge," 
by Taine, and the sprightly " Monsieur, Madame et Bebe " by 
Gustave Droz. Here we can only glance at a few features of 
la vie parisienne of those days. We will take first a matter in 
which it was certainly influenced by the example of the Court — 
that of the feminine fashions of the reign, which were set by 
the Tuileries in conjunction with one or two foreign embassies, 
a few aristocratic mansions, and half a dozen costumiers and 
milliners. 

At the time of the imperial wedding, it was Mme. Palmyre 



FEMININE FASHIONS 311 

who made the twenty toilettes de soiree and Mme. Vignon the 
thirty-two toilettes de jour (inclusive of the wedding gowns) 
which figured in the Empress''s corheille de mariage.* Later 
came the ascendency of the Englishman Worth, particularly in 
respect to evening gowns, and the rise of Laferriere as an artist 
in promenade and visiting toilettes. Mme. Felicie long reigned 
supreme in the domain of mantles and coats, while Virot and 
Lebel triumphed in bonnets and hats. Moreover, as the shawl 
was still worn during the earlier years of the Empire, and at 
least continued to be for many years a necessary adjunct to a 
corheille de mariage, there was also the famous Compagnie des 
Indes in the Rue de Richelieu. Then, among the best ladies' 
bootmakers we recall the name of Massez, while Leroy and 
Bysterveld rivalled each other in the art of dressing and 
adorning the hair, and Fiver excelled in the preparation of 
perfumes and cosmetics. 

Worth, Laferriere, Virot, and others waited on the Empress, 
Princess Metternich, and a few other grandes dames^ but most 
of their customers went to them ; and there were afternoons 
when half the elegantes of Paris might be seen in the Rue de 
la Paix and adjoining thoroughfares. The stairs at Worth's 
were likened to Jacob's ladder : an angel was to be met on 
every step. You fancied, too, that you were entering a hot- 
house, such was the pleasant warmth on quitting the cold street 
and such the wealth of camelias, draca^nas, and other plants 
displayed both on the stairs and the landing, across which flitted 
one or another of the great costumier's jolies demoiselles, in- 
variably wearing a gown and a chignon of the style which 
would be fashionable next day. On the right-hand of the 
landing was the " Secretary's Office," where orders and addresses 
were noted, but on turning to the left you found a succession 
of salons with large oak tables, on which lay pieces of silk, 
satin and other materials, with some of the finest artificial 
flowers that Paris could produce and an infinity of elegant 
chitons. Handsome young men, cravatted a la colin, and wear- 
ing tightly-buttoned frockcoats, stood here and there prepared 
to minister to the ladies' choice ; but they did so in an easy, 
nonchalant way, without any of that terrible persuasiveness 
* The number was fixed by the Emperor himself. 



312 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

characteristic of the young man of the magas'in de nouveaiites 
who is consumed by a desire to " sell."" Yet they were always 
ready with an appropriate answer when they were questioned 
respecting any combination of different shades or materials, any 
question of trimmings or measurements. Again, passing hither 
and thither, there were young girls whose gowns, though black, 
represented the latest styles invented by the master, in such 
wise that by pointing to one or another of them a customer 
could at once indicate what kind of corsage, or sash, or " puff" 
she desired. The first-hand, elegant, but looking tired, was 
there also, welcoming the customers with great dignity. 

On some stands in the fourth room, you saw a few of the 
master's very last creations, finished and ready for delivery, but 
shown to you just as a painter shows a picture in his studio 
before sending it to the Salon or the Academy. They stood there, 
those wonderful robes, three or four in a row, and admirably 
lighted — the Avail behind them being, moreover, all "looking 
glass,"" so that you at once perceived how the sash was arranged, 
how the tunic fell, and the train flowed. They were, too, often 
as intricate as five-act plays, they were elaborate, carefully 
studied compositions ; and even as the value of a picture is not 
estimated according to the cost of the pigments which the 
artist may have employed, so the value of those gowns did not 
depend on the cost of the materials used in making them. The 
latter might not exceed two hundred francs, but the amount of 
genius lavished on the design and the making might represent 
two thousand. 

The fair clients gathered in ecstasy in front of those new 
creations, and while a little cry of admiration escaped from one 
of them, and a sigh or a purr of delight from another, something 
like a whirlwind of tulle and lace and Crepe de chine would sud- 
denly flit by and vanish into a room, whence, as the door opened, 
there came a stream of pale light. That Avas the salon de 
hcmiere, where the windows were hermetically sealed and the 
Avails were all huge mirrors. By the light of a dozen gas-jets 
Avith movable shades, the lady who there tried on her new 
toilette de hal was seen as she Avould be seen the following night 
at the Tuileries. And noAV it Avas that the master made his 
appearance — a man rather below the average height, with a 



1 



FEMININE FASHIONS 313 

full, shiny face, all pink and white, his fair hair parted in the 
middle, his whiskers closely cropped, his moustaches drooping 
and glittering like gold. He wore a perpetual smile, he seemed 
to bow without bending, perhaps because his short frock- 
coat was so very tightly buttoned. As a rule it was only 
with customers that he spoke French — and then with a marked 
accent. His subordinates in the salon de lumiere were usually 
English girls. Miss Mary, Miss Esther. And he always re- 
mained quite calm, he never made a fuss, never addressed an 
angry word to a subordinate. But his coup cToe'il was Napo- 
leonic. He immediately detected a fault, and indicated in very 
few words what should be done to repair it. Not only did he 
fight against the crinoline, succeeding by 1868 in reducing it 
to something like a verkigadin^ but he also opposed the exces- 
sively decollete bodice. " I dress ladies," he remarked one day 
to a journalist. " Let the demi-monde go elsewhere ! " Such 
was Mr. Worth, the King of Fashion. 

The taste of the Second Empire in matters of dress has 
often been bitterly assailed. The styles of the period are still, 
perhaps, too near to us to be judged impartially. As time 
elapses a fairer estimate may be formed. It must be confessed, 
however, that anything which tends to expand and stiffen the 
skirt of the female costume necessarily engenders monstrosity, 
alien alike to nature and true art. Such was undoubtedly the 
effect of the crinoline, the battle against whose tyranny was so 
prolonged and, for years, so uncertain. In court circles, at one 
period, the contrivance assumed such huge proportions that, for 
the convenience of the Empress and her ladies sailing from 
Cherbourg or arriving there in the imperial yacht, it became 
necessary to widen all the landing-stages. At a visit paid 
by Napoleon and his consort to Osborne, in August, 1857, old 
Lord Palmerston was both fascinated and annoyed by the 
appearance of the ladies of the party. It was a case of " so near 
and yet so far." How could you possibly flirt with a pretty 
woman when you could not get within three yards of her ? 
How could a tete-a-tete have any charm whatever, under such 
conditions? There was an entente cordiale in those days, but 
it was not marked by the kissing which has distinguished the 
entente cordiale of the present time, Perhaps that was the 



314 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

fault of the crinoline, whose sway was so despotic that when 
Hortense Schneider performed in Offenbach''s " Belle Helene," 
taking, as will be remembered, the title role, she actually wore 
one of those hateful cages. It was certainly much smaller than 
the prevailing fashion, but it was, none the less, a crinoline. How 
Paris and Menelaus and Helen herself must have turned in their 
g-raves at the thouffht of it ! If the reader doubt our statement 
let him look at the portraits taken of Schneider at the time. 

One may well wonder that the reign of the " cage " should 
have lasted so long, in spite of all artistic feeling and percep- 
tion. It is true, however, that nobody had as yet set out 
tersely and plainly, so as to be understood by one and all, 
those elementary principles which Charles Blanc subsequently 
recapitulated in his famous essay on feminine dress. Chevreul's 
learned work on colours certainly contained a short section on 
the hues most appropriate to one and another complexion, 
and the advantages to be derived now from harmony and now 
from contrast ; but those few pages were scarcely known to the 
average Pai-isienne, who relied almost entirely on her instinct, 
an instinct which, in spite of the lavish praise and admiration 
of innumerable writers, was not infrequently at fault. The 
reign of the crinoline showed, moreover, that she had little or 
no appreciation of that simple science of lines, which Blanc re- 
stated so well in the early years of the present Republic, and 
which at last brought home to many a thoughtless woman the 
fact that she would increase her height and reduce her bulk by 
vertical lines, reduce her height and add ampleur to a spare 
figure by horizontal ones ; while in certain instances the diagonal 
line might prove an advantage. 

In the matter of colours, the fashions of the Second Empire 
were often daring. The most abominable innovation of the 
period was that variety of purple which, coming into fashion 
about the time of the Italian war, was patriotically christened 
" magenta." Some famous hues of the period were the Eugenie 
blue, the Mathilde pearl-white, the Pompadour green, the 
Benoiton green,* the frog-green, the nuance Teha, the avantu- 
rine yellow, the vin de Bordeaux, the Ispahan pink, and the 
hleu des blondes. Then there were more or less startling 



& 



So called after Sardou's comedy, " La Famille Benoiton," 



FEMININE FASHIONS 315 

combinations of tints, primrose and blue, lavender and maize, 
mauve and white, pink and pearl grey, but, after all, a fairly 
sober colour proved the great one of the reign — that, of course, 
being the unforgettable Bismarck. It came upon Paris in 1866, 
it flourished throughout 1867, it was still e7i vogue at the end 
of 1868. Never, in all the annals of fashion, has a colour had 
so long and popular a run. It was, after all, merely a kind of 
Havannah brown, and owed its fortune solely to its name. But 
in the days of Sadowa that was a name to conjure with. At 
first this fashionable colour appeared in a fairly warm shade, 
known simply as Bismarck — written " Bismark,"" by the way ; 
but it suddenly took a duller tone, and became known as 
Bismarck malade, until at last, assuming yet warmer tints than 
before, it was christened successively Bismarck content and 
Bismarck en coTere. There were also such varieties as Bismarck 
glace and Bismarck scintillant. And it was Bismarck of one or 
another shade everywhere ; there were Bismarck silks, satins, 
and velvets, woollen stuffs and cotton fabrics, Bismarck boots, 
Bismarck gloves, Bismarck parasols, and Bismarck bonnets. 
The last were naturally of Bismarck straw, trimmed with 
Bismarck lace, the only relief from the various shades of the 
all-prevailing colour being supplied by gold and scarlet berries. 
But even the Bismarck bonnet was not the " last cry," for there 
came the Bismarck chignon, which compelled ladies to dye their 
hair the fashionable hue. 

About the time of Queen Victoria's visit to Paris in 1855, 
the flounced skirt was " all the rage," four or five flounces of 
varying depths succeeding each other from the hips to the hem 
of the gown. But that mode passed, and the great balloon-like 
skirts became trimmed with huge bows, or chonx of ribbon, or 
lozenges of velvet, or elaborate and, at times, medallion-like 
ornaments of passementerie. At last we reached the rohe a 
deux jupes, the rohe a tunique, the pufl'ed skirt, the costume 
Watteau, the jupe a la chinoise, and other styles. Picture the 
overskirt of a gown caught up at the sides with strap-like 
bands or ribbons ; picture tunics falling in sharp tasselled 
points, basques edged with fringes or feathers. Pompadour 
bodices all velvet, lace, ribbons, and flowers. Picture also a 
gown of white satin, with the skirt embroidered from top to 



316 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

bottom with long peacock-feathers, placed so closely that the 
wearer appeared to be garbed in those feathers from her Avaist 
downwards. Add thereto long open sleeves embroidered with 
rather smaller feathers, and a corsage with yet smaller ones. 
Imagine also a costume all ton sur ton^ scalloped, pinked, 
decoupe in such wise as to suggest fretwork. Think of a soft 
white skirt, puffed in the style of osivfs a la neige and adorned 
with diagonal bands of amber satin, and wreathed at the bottom 
with flowers of that shade. Think also of a Court dress of white 
satin, trimmed with transverse bands of green velvet (edged 
with gold), which met V-like behind, descending towards a long 
train of lace and gold embroidery, over which fell the ends of 
an interminable velvet sash, all green and gold like the bands 
of the skirt. And, speaking of sashes, imagine a gold-chain 
waistband, having in the rear a large pendant ring, from which 
the sash fell to the bottom of the skirt. 

But in addition to all the gros de Naples, the gros de 
Navarre, the poults-de-soie, the rose and blue moires antiques, 
the tarlatans, the grenadines, the crepes de Chine, and the fayes, 
here are the famous Lyons brocades, displaying narcissi, crimson 
carnations, variegated tulips, and bunches of lilac on grey 
grounds ; while on maize grounds you will find heart's-eases, 
damask roses, and bluebells. You will even perceive brocaded 
Bismarck, whose brown favours the yellow iris and the daffodil. 
" Save us from all this ! " was virtually one of the " notes "" of 
Sardou's " Famille Benoiton," in which Mile. Fargueil exclaimed 
so fervently, " Protect us, holy Muslin ! " But muslin did no 
such thing; it appeared covered with coloured medallions of 
Daphne, Chloe, and Amaryllis, after the style of Watteau and 
Boucher. It seemed to know that unless it were thus adorned 
the Parisienne would not wear it. 

Leave Paris and go to the seaside — to Trouville or Deauville. 
Yonder elegante in the Japanese hat, the short scarlet skirt, 
and the dark-blue yachting jacket with scarlet collar and cuffs 
may not be very wonderful to look at ; but here you will also 
see Mile. Anonyma garbed in white, though not with a sweet 
simplicity, for her skirt is festooned with black death's heads, 
linked one to another by true-lovers' knots of pink ribbon ! 
The 2Iouave jacket, the Breton jacket (nowadays called a 



FEMININE FASHIONS Sll 

bolero), and the Garibaldi will be recollected, the Jichu Marie 
Antoinette, if not the Jichu Letta, is still often with us, but we 
confess that we do not exactly recall the styles, even if we 
remember the names, of the Vespertina opera-wrap, or the 
Lamballe puff, or the paletot -chale. That is the worst of 
fashion's jargon, a great deal of which soon becomes obsolete 
and suggests little or no meaning at all. Yet, in that respect, 
matters were not quite so bad under the Empire as they 
were towards the close of the eighteenth century, when some 
mysterious, semi-poetical name was bestowed on every kind 
of fabric, trimming, and cut. Open the Marquis de Valfons' 
memoirs and interpret, if you can, his description of the 
costume of La Duthe, the famous courtesan-actress. "She 
was attired," says the Marquis, "in a robe of stifled sighs, 
adorned with superfluous regrets, the point edged with perfect 
candour, trimmed with indiscreet complaints. She wore ribbons 
of marked attentions and shoes of the colour of Queen"'s hair,* 
embroidered with diamonds in treacherous stripes. Above her 
curls of elevated sentiments was a head-dress of certain con- 
quest, trimmed with fickle feathers, while over her shoulder 
fell an Absolom tress of momentary agitation." Now all that, 
though much of it is absolute gibberish to us, in 1907, was 
perfectly well understood by the last great ladies of the old 
regime. 

But, returning to the Empire''s fashions, let us just mention 
all those wonderful mantles of green, blue, puce, grey, and violet 
velvet, which often assumed such extraordinary shapes, and say 
a few words respecting the bonnets, which passed from the 
coal-scuttle to the peaked and thence to the fanclion or 
small inverted-platter style. It was the gradual growth of 
the chignon, the Empire's last word in the matter of hair- 
dressing, that killed the coal-scuttle and peaked bonnets, for 
which good work the chignon deserved much thanks. But the 
chignon itself assumed eccentric forms and proportions. The 
Empress long clung to her own particular style of coiffure, and 
the pendant Eugenie curls did not abdicate their sway until 
the chignon had repeatedly attacked them. At the Tuileries 

* Marie Antoinette's hair. Count d'Artois sent a lock of it to Lyons, in 
order that the exact hue might be imitated by the silk-workers. 



318 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

the chignon*'s chief pioneer was probably the charming Baroness 
de Poilly, wife of Baron Henri de Poilly, the great sportsman 
of Follembray and Coucy-le-Chateau. The Baroness was assailed 
and derided ; she was asked whether she would next show her- 
self with a monkey clinging to her head, but she went her way 
and gained the victory. 

The fanchon, or inverted straw-platter bonnet, which 
favoured the display of the chignon, was followed by a mere 
tuft of tulle, or crape, whose strings were simply of narrow 
ribbon, or else of small trailing leaves. An attempt to intro- 
duce so-called Marie Antoinette and Trianon hats came to 
nothing, but in winter various fur toques and feather hats 
were often much in favour. As for the boots of the Empire 
they were such as are now only seen upon the stage. The 
Parisienne of those days wore morocco and russia leather, and 
the colour of her boots harmonized or contrasted effectively 
with the colour of her frock. The short skirt, not a mere 
trotteicse, but something quite three inches shorter, became at 
one time fashionable wear at the promenade in Paris as well as 
in the country and at the seaside, and this led to the so-called 
hottine a mi-jambe — that is, a boot reaching halfway up the calf 
of the leg. Sometimes the ordinary tan boot was to be seen, 
but it generally had a facing and top trimming of the same hue 
as the skirt. The bronze boot was somewhat common, the 
violet one was more fashionable ; the scarlet one belonged to 
the demi-monde. Russia leather boots were embroidered with 
gold and coloured silks, and ornamented with tassels, rosettes, 
beads of crystal, jet, and gold. When shoes were worn the 
stockings were elaborately embroidered. The black stocking 
was then virtually unknown ; white ones were still worn by 
the hourgeoisie and the masses, while the elegante displayed 
one or another bright or delicate hue in keeping with her 
toilette. Again, the stocking-suspender was unknown, the garter 
flourished, and was a thing of beauty. Sometimes it was an 
objet d'art, an elaborate piece of jewellery, designed by Froment- 
Meurice, at others it was of gold or silver filigree, at others 
of either velvet or moire. In the last case it was enriched with 
lace and pendant ribbons. It usually bore a crest or emblem, 
and a motto, sometimes figured in precious stones, at others 



FEMININE FASHIONS 319 

beautifully euibroidered.* That was the age of embroidery 
in gold and silver thread and coloured silks. There were 
exquisitely embroidered parasols, and quaintly embroidered 
gloves, whose gauntlets displayed birds, butterflies, and flowers, 
or, if the wearer were going to the races, a few horseshoes or a 
jockey's cap and whip. 

In the last years of the Empire there came a passion for 
eccentric jewellery. After the victories of Fille de FAir and 
Gladiateur all jewellery emblematical of the turf became very 
popular. Birds, too, of many kinds — swallows, swans, eagles, 
and robins, dangled from the ears of the Parisiennes. There 
were also tambourine, zither, and padlock earrings. We 
remember, too, a lady of nautical tastes from whose ears 
depended a couple of miniature yachts, while at one moment 
there was as great a rage for dragonflies, butterflies, and beetles 
as there ever was for miniature guillotines in the days of the 
great Revolution. The little hats or bonnets were sometimes 
literally spangled with beetles of various hues, among which 
there appeared, perhaps, a dragonfly all aglitter with its real 
or its imitation stones. Again, those beetles and dragonflies 
figured as earrings or brooches ; but when a lady had no 
entomological inclinations she could wear in her ears a pair 
of tiny gold baskets containing little flowers formed of pearls, 
rubies, brilliants, and turquoises, or, if that were too elaborate, 
she might content herself with a couple of gold pea-pods 
containing emerald peas, or else with mere cherries of coral. 

It was the Empire that witnessed the foundation and rise 
of " the great bazaars," the Louvre, the Bon Marche, the 
St. Thomas, and so forth, all those Temples of Perdition which 
popularized the love of finery and fostered the spirit of imitation 
among women, inspiring the Parisienne of limited means with a 
more and more ardent desire to array herself like the great 
lady of wealth. Still it was only the leaders of fashion who 
could manage to dress six and seven times a day, assuming first 

* A pair of jewelled garters by Proment-Meurice bore in diamonds the 
motto, Honi soit qici point n'y pense. Other garter mottoes of the time were 
Goethe's Persistaiice \en a-mour, Montaigne's Que sgais-je, and Charles I.'s 
Eemember. For widow ladies there were garters embroidered with pansies 
and silver tears. 



S^O THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

the dressing-gown, next the riding-habit, then the neglige 
elegant for dejeuner, then the toilette de ville or de visite for 
" morning calls," then the toilette de Bois for the orthodox 
drive, then the toilette de diner, then the toilette de bal, and 
finally the toilette de nuit. 

Soon after the imperial marriage society was fluttered by 
the great question of the Court trains (manteaiuc de cour falling 
from the shoulders), which it was decreed that ladies should 
wear at State receptions at the Tuileries. The subject was 
carefully studied by the Empress and Emperor in council with 
Mme. Roger, and sumptuary regulations ensued, specifying the 
colours which those trains should assume, the materials they 
should consist of, the amount of trimming they should have, 
and the length to which they might extend. The more splendid 
trains were reserved for Princesses of the Imperial House, then 
came the trains of the wives of high functionaries, marshals, 
senators, and so forth, while mere invitees^ even if they were the 
wives of millionaires, were not entitled to wear trains above a 
certain length and value. The joke was that many ladies did 
not know how to wear such trains at all, and there was a great 
rush to secure the advice of Cellarius and the other leading dancing 
masters of Paris. It was, however, a clever actress, Augustine 
Brohan, of the Comedie Franpaise, who schooled the lady train- 
wearers most effectively, teaching them how to walk and how 
to give, when occasion required, the elegant little kick by which 
the train was brought into the required position. For the trifle 
of three louis {£^ 8*.) a lesson — and a course of not more than 
four or five lessons was required — Mile. Brohan charitably saved 
some scores of her sex from making themselves ridiculous on 
their first appearance at the Tuileries. 

The foregoing remarks on the subject of feminine fashions 
may have helped the reader to understand how the Parisienne 
of Gavarni became gradually transformed into the Parisienne 
of Grevin. Of masculine fashions we have not space to speak 
at leno-th. The heio-ht of the silk hat — the orthodox headgear 
of civilization — varied exceedingly ; at times it was more than 
two inches above that of the silk hat of to-day (1907), at others 
it decreased till it corresponded with that of a "bowler;"" and 
it was amusing, indeed, to see the Boulevardiers of 1866 and 



SOME FEATURES OF PARIS LIFE 321 

1867 wearing, at the same time as those diminutive silk hats, 
which suggested the "cut-downs" of a slop-shop, both the 
tightest of trousers and the shortest of jackets — the last leaving 
the seat of the trousers fully exposed. Then the straw hat 
for men was also somewhat quaint. It vaguely resembled the 
"boater" of to-day, but the ribbon was fastened behind, and 
its ends dangled some inches below the brim. As for the frock- 
coat it underwent repeated modifications ; at times its sleeves 
were very tight, at others most awkwardly full, while the skirts 
generally ended above the knees. With respect to trousers, 
virtually every huge check-pattern that could be devised, figured 
for years on the Boulevards. 

The Boulevards — from the Madeleine to the Faubourg 
Montmartre — were then in many respects the real centre of 
Parisian life. Nearly all the greatest restaurants, the Cafe 
Anglais, the Maison Dorde, the Cafe Riche, Durand"'s, Brebant- 
Vachette's were there ; the Trois Freres and Vefour's being the 
only really first-class establishments left at the Palais Royal. 
Excepting the Cercle Imperial, at the corner of the Avenue 
Gabriel, all the great clubs, too, were either on or near the 
Boulevards — the Union and the Agricole patronized by the old 
noblesse, the Jockey by sportsmen and men of fashion,* the 
Chemins de Fer by stockbrokers, great engineers, and directors 
of public companies, the Union artistique by men who practised 
or dabbled in the arts,t the Ganaches by a great variety of 
old fogeys, both civil and military, the Baby and the Sporting 
by very young men intent on sowing their wild oats, the 
Americain by gamblers, the St. Hubert by devotees of la 
chasse, and the Cercle des Arts by notaries, commercial people, 
and other good bourgeois. In those days, too, there were real 
cctfes on the Boulevards, for the Parisian had not yet taken to 
lager beer. Virtually each cafe had its habitues, its special 
class of customers, and if you wished to find an actor, a govern- 
ment journalist, an opposition one, an ofiicer on leave, a 
boursier, a merchant or commission agent in some particular 
line of business, you knew precisely where to go. 

* Through Morny, the Jockey Club had virtually been captured by the 
Empire. 

t Its real founder was the father of Guy da Maupassant, 

Y 



322 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Passing along the Boulevards during that hour before dinner 
time, which was called the Hour of Absinthe, you would meet 
or see seated outside one or another cafe two-thirds of the men 
whose names had been mentioned in that day's newspapers. 
There was Auber, the youthful septuagenarian, talking to 
Offenbach, there was Timothee Trimm airing his importance 
to a tribe of smaller journalists, there was Leonce of the 
Varietes cracking jokes with Cham the caricaturist. A bored- 
looking elderly Englishman passed, and you recognized Lord 
Hertford. Turning the corner of the Rue Laffitte you espied 
old Baron James de Rothschild, followed by the eternal foot- 
man carrying his overcoat. Just inside the Librairie Nouvelle 
stood Prince Metternich purchasing books for the Princess. 
The mysterious Persian who haunted the Imperial Library 
strolled by. There went Mustapha Pasha in converse with 
Khalil Bey. Yonder, sundered by politics but drawn together 
again by art, sat Courbet in the company of Carpeaux. 
Then, all at once, loud-voiced and exuberant, Dumas of the 
Musketeers appeared, attended by some of the sycophants on 
whom he lavished his last napoleons. All the men of the 
reign might be met at one time or another on those Boulevards, 
Ponsard, Scholl, Henri de Pene, Dr. V^ron, Bressant, Goncourt, 
Baron Brisse, Villemessant, M. de Foy, Siraudin, Valles, 
Barriere, Banville, Sardou, Pereire, Gramont - Caderousse, 
Frederick Lemaitre, Nadar, Girardin, Rossini, Houssaye, Paul 
de Kock, Paul Feval, About, Roqueplan, young Rochefort and 
young Gambetta, mediums Home and Squire, Paul Baudry 
and Manet, Markowski and Cellarius, Millaud and Mires, 
and so on, and so on. And as time elapsed vocalists and 
actresses went by in their victorias and broughams — Patti, 
Nilsson, Alboni, Hortense Schneider, Zulma Bouffar, L^onide 
Leblanc, Madeleine Brohan, Rose Cheri, La Desclee, Fargueil, 
and all the others — pending the time when processions of 
carriages would halt outside the theatres, and ladies alight 
from them in all the glory of their toilettes de spectacle. 

An hour or two ago those ladies were in the Bois de 
Boulogne. " Round the lake," and not the Allee des Acacias, 
was then the fashionable drive, and great was the mustering of 
equipages, wonderful the display of frocks. At times^ at a 



i 



SOME FEATURES OF PARIS LIFE 323 

word from some mounted guard, the procession would suddenly 
be stopped, and a piqueur wearing the imperial livery would 
appear, preceding an open carriage with horses harnessed a la 
D'Aumont and ridden by postilions. Then you would see the 
Empress, sometimes accompanied by the Emperor, at others by 
her nieces Miles. d''Albe, or else attended by one or two of her 
ladies of the palace. The gentlemen, riding on the left side of 
the road (reserved for equestrians), would then muster in a line 
near the Rond des Cascades, and a couple of hundred heads 
would be uncovered as the imperial equipage went by at a slow 
trot, the Empress gracefully acknowledging the salutations. 

But among the carriages in which ladies of rank and 
position reclined, there were others, often the showiest of all, 
occupied by women of another kind. There went Cora Pearl, 
there Giulia Barucci, there Anna Deslions, there La Paiva, 
not far from her old acquaintance, Esther Guimond. All 
the " Dames aux Camelias," the " Filles de Marbre,"" the 
" Madelons *' of the period mingled with the highest in the 
land, displaying their painted charms and costly costumes. 

If, by-and-by, after dinner and the theatre, you had peeped 
into the mansion of one of those women, that of La Barucci, 
whose real name, by the way, was Julie Benin, you would have 
seen a strange sight. It was a night early in 1863, the mansion 
was in the Champs Elysees, and had just been taken by La 
Barucci, who was giving a "house-warming'" party. Among 
her guests were Prince Paul Demidoff, Count Tolstoy, the 
young Duke de Gramont-Caderousse (the great plunger of 
the period), the Marquis de Vimeux, Count de Chambrun, 
Viscount de Poix, Viscount de Brimeux, M. de Feuilhade- 
Chauvin, Herr von Schonen of the Prussian embassy, and a 
gentleman of the Queen of Spain's household, SeSor Angelo de 
Miranda. La Barucci had also invited Signor Calzado, the 
director of the Theatre Italien (where Patti was singing), but 
the affair was to be a very quiet one — a cup of tea, a little 
music, and then supper. Calzado, however, arrived accompanied 
by a friend, Garcia, a notorious gambler, famous for having 
" broken the bank," both at Wiesbaden and Homburg. And, 
briefly, cards were produced and a game of baccarat began — ■ 
.£''800, d£*2000, ifi'SOOO, and even larger amounts figuring on 



S24 THE COURT OF THE TUILERlES 

the table at one or another moment. Garcia held the bank 
and carried all before him, Miranda, who staked large suras, 
losing heavily ; until at last his suspicions and those of others 
being aroused, Garcia was watched and detected in the act of 
cheating. A terrific fracas ensued. Both Garcia and Calzado 
were seized, and prepared cards being found in their possession, 
all the money they had stolen was taken from them, and they 
were kicked out of the house. At Miranda's suit Calzado was 
tried and sentenced to fine and imprisonment, but Garcia 
managed to escape from France. 

The affair caused no little stir in Paris, notably by reason 
of Calzado''s position there ; but before long some other mal- 
practices diverted public attention. The age was a gambling 
one, and financial scandals were as frequent then as they are 
now. There were the affairs of the Docks Napoleon, the Credit 
Mobilier, the Caisse des Chemins de Fer — with which the names 
of Millaud, Pereire and Mires were associated — and others of but 
slighter magnitude. Yet Paris was no more all corruption in 
those days than it has been at other periods of its history. 
Stones have been often flung at the journalism, the literature, 
the stage, the music, the art of the Empire, but though some 
severe strictures have been deserved, partisanship has often 
supplied a very one-sided view of the period. It is true 
that there was distinct danger at times. The regime in its 
vain endeavour to prevent people from intruding into politics 
seemed to have appropriated Rabelais'* motto — Vivez joyeux ! 
— and those who denounced that enthronement of pleasure 
as a deity did good work. But let us be fair. If we had 
space at our command, it would be easy to show that things 
were not so black as some have painted them. In the sphere 
of journalism there arose some of the ablest, wittiest, most 
cultured chromqueurs known to the French press, men like 
Villemot and Noriac, Audebrand and Scholl, Adrien Marx, 
and Henri de Pene, followed by Sarcey, Wolff", Monselet, 
Pierre Veron, Rochefort in his premiere maniere, and Claretie, 
then also making his debut. The field of literature is too vast 
to be surveyed here, but among the writers of the time were 
Ste. Beuve, Janin, Taine, Cousin, Littre, Renan, Michelet, 
Mignet, Toqueville, St. Marc-Girardin, Henri Martin, Havet, 



SOME FEATURES OF PARIS LIFE 325 

Paulin Paris, Laboulaye, Baudrillart, Wolowski. As for the 
novel in those days, if Feydeau and Belot achieved, by mere 
pruriency, success with such works as " Fanny " and " Mile. 
Giraud," Flaubert gave to the world his epoch-making master- 
piece, while his friends the Goncourts strove in fiction, history 
and biography alternately. Again, Alphonse Daudet, thanks, 
be it remembered, to the generosity of his patron Morny, was 
able to pen both " Tartarin" and the "Lettres de mon Moulin." 
Let us also recall the names of Feuillet, George Sand, Gautier, 
Banville, Prevost-Paradol, Erckmann-Chatrian. Among poets, 
the Parnassians arose with Leconte de Lisle, Heredia and Sully 
Prudhomme, while Coppee wrote "Le Passant", which intro- 
duced Sarah Bernhardt to celebrity. The stage was not all 
Meilhac and Halevy, Clairville, and Ernest Blum, amusing as 
these often were. It was also Augier and Dumas fils, Ponsard 
and Barriere, Cadol and Sardou. All Sardou's best work was 
done under the Empire, and nearly all of Dumas'. And the 
actors and actresses of that time might well challenge comparison 
with those of this. They were Regnier, Bressant, Delaunay, 
Febvre, Got, Coquelin, St. Germain, Mounet-Sully, Rachel, 
Ristori, Favart, Arnould-Plessy, Judith, the sisters Brohan, 
Fargueil, Reichemberg, and many others famous in theatrical 
annals. 

Again, dancing was not all Rigolboche, Clodoche, and 
cancan. In the ballroom it was the graceful mazurka introduced 
to the Parisians by Markowski ; on the stage, after Livry had 
been unhappily burnt to death, it was the art of Ferraris, 
Cerito, Rosati, St. Leon, Merante. Nor was music all 
Offenbach, Herve, and Jonas. It was also Gounod, Auber, 
Ambroise Thomas, Felicien David, Halevy, Berlioz, Bizet, 
Verdi, Rossini, and Meyerbeer. The three last named might 
be foreigners, but two of them were Parisians also. And 
if the period was that of "La Belle Helene," "La Grande 
Duchesse," "Chilperic," "Le Canard a trois Bees," and " Le 
Petit Faust," it was also that of the other "Faust," and of 
" KAfricaine," " Romeo et Juliette," " Le Pardon de Ploermel," 
" Le Prophete," and " L'Etoile du Nord." Our vocalists were 
Patti, Alboni, Cruvelli, Nilsson, Viardot, Miolan-Carvalho, 
Sass, Gardoni, Tamberlick, Nicolini, Faure, Tngliafico — /(??//<? 



326 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

la lyre ! Then, too, great men laboured in various branches of 
science : Pasteur, Berthelot, Leverrier, Bernard, Flourens, 
Chevreul, Milne-Edwards, Quatrefages, St. Hilaire, Tresca, 
Trelat. In painting and sculpture and architecture,* also, 
famous names and famous works might be enumerated, and if the 
whole field were surveyed with fairness, it would be found that 
during the eighteen years of the Empire the genius of France 
never abdicated. 

The period had its failings, its frivolities, its foibles, its 
fads, like all others. Much that was evil might be traced, 
however, to the cosmopolitan element which mingled with the 
population. Paris became crowded with foreigners, some of 
them men of rank and substance, others mere adventurers, but 
nearly all of them folk of little morality. It has generally 
been assumed that they were debauched by Parisian life, but 
it is a question whether they did not debauch Paris. At times 
of course the Parisian himself was largely to blame. Shut out 
from healthy participation in politics (and that was the regimes 
particular sin), he turned far too readily to whatever might 
present itself to fill the void in his life. Thus pleasure, frivolity, 
folly, secured only too many votaries. At one time you saw 
half Paris rushing in a kind of delirium to consult an extra- 
ordinary quack, the Zouave Jacob, who claimed to cure every 
possible disease ; at another you found thousands of people 
absolutely believing that the Emperor had paid the cruel 
assassin Tropmann to murder the Kinck family, in order to 
divert attention from politics, and that some "dummy" or 
other had really been executed in Tropmann's place — he being 
discreetly sent abroad with his pockets full of secret-service 
money ! The Parisian was far better inspired when, in the 
late sixties, he helped to resuscitate the "velocipede" — that fore- 
runner of to-day's bicycle — in spite of all the derision heaped 
upon the appliance by flippant correspondents of the foreign 
press, who did not foresee its possibilities. One may still smile, 
perhaps, at the thought of velocipedes de luxe mounted in rose- 
wood and aluminium bronze, nevertheless the " fad " was one 
that yielded fruit in later years. 

* Notably as regards the Grand Opera and the additions to the Louvre. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COUHT THE EMPEROR's 

ILLNESS CHALONS — THE MARSHALS — THE HUNT 

The Chateau of St. Cloud— The Empress Charlotte of Mexico— The Malady 
of Napoleon III. — His Sojourns at Plombieres and Vichy — His visits to 
the Camp of Chalons — The Zouaves in Camp — Napoleon's Illness and 
Baron Larrey — Military High Mass — The Marshals of France, Randon, 
Pelissier, MacMahon, Bazaine, and others — IMesdames les Marechales — 
The Court at Fontainebleau — Biarritz and the Villa Eugenie — A Victory of 
the Crinoline — The Empress and Imperial Prince in Peril — Compiegne — 
The Imperial Hunt and its Organization — St. Hubert's Day — Despatching 
the Stag — Serious Accidents — The Cur^e by Torchlight — Boar-hunting and 
Hawking — The Shooting Grounds — The Battues — The Emperor a good 
shot — Prince Napoleon and the Pelicans — Some bad Shots — Boar or 
Badger ? — Life at the Chateau — The Series of Guests — The Day's Routine 
— Evening Recreations — Pasteur and the Frogs — A few of the Guests — 
Nero and Tita — Napoleon and the Nicaraguan Canal — Some Ladies at 
Compiegne — Theatrical Performances — The " Commentaires de C^sar " — 
The Emperor and the Invalide — France, England, and the Channel Bridge. 

Only part of the time of the Imperial Court was spent at the 
Tuileries ; it was often elsewhere. It installed itself at the 
chateau of St. Cloud during the spring, and then returned for 
a short time to Paris. Later the Emperor went to Plombieres 
or Vichy to drink the waters ; next he betook himself to the 
camp of Chalons ; then, after returning to St. Cloud, where it 
often happened that the Empress had remained in the interval, 
he repaired with her to Fontainebleau. A stay at Biarritz 
ensued, but towards the close of October the Court was again in 
Paris, whence, immediately after All Saints' Day, it started for 
Compiegne, its sojourn at that "residence" lasting until the 
end of the year. 

Apart from the peregrinations we have just enumerated, 
there was no little travelling to various parts of France, now to 
inaugurate some monument or public work, now to relieve the 
distress resulting from inundations, now to cheer those who 



S28 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

were stricken by outbreaks of cholera or other afflictions. 
Further, for political reasons, the Emperor went to Germany 
at different times. He paid an important visit to Stuttgart 
in 1857, when he met the Emperor of Russia and other 
sovereigns, and another to Baden in I860, while on two 
occasions during the last period of his reign he met the Austrian 
Emperor at Salzburg. Of his visits to Queen Victoria, first at 
Windsor and later at Osborne, and of the Empress's more 
important journeys, we have already spoken. 

The Empress, it seems, was not particularly fond of the 
chateau of St. Cloud, in spite of its associations with the 
memory of Marie Antoinette, for she did not find it sufficiently 
in the country, sufficiently rural as regards its surroundings. 
For political business, however, it was a convenient place of 
sojourn. The Emperor could speedily drive into Paris when- 
ever circumstances required his presence there, and it was 
comparatively easy for his ministers to attend the councils 
which, as a rule, were held at the chateau twice a week, becom- 
ing rather more frequent in the autumn, when the ensuing 
year's budget was discussed. It may be pointed out that the 
Emperor was present on those occasions, that, in fact, he 
participated in the preparation of the estimates, Avhence it 
follows that no small share of responsibility for the finances of 
the Empire devolved on him. He was, however, a very poor 
financier, as his private affairs showed, and, with respect to the 
financial position of the State, we suspect that he often 
accepted the assertions of his ministers without troubling to 
verify them. 

As is the case with the Tuileries, nothing but a memory 
now remains of the chateau of St. Cloud, so unfortunately 
destroyed, together with its many art treasures, during the 
German siege of Paris. Dating from the time of the Duke of 
Orleans, brother of Louis XIV., it was a large and handsome 
structure, the scene of many a great historical fe.te of the old 
regime. From the House of Orleans it passed, in 1785, into the 
possession of Marie Antoinette, who purchased it for a sum of 
six million livres. It was there, in the Orangerie, demolished 
in or about 1864 by Napoleon III., that Bonaparte, on the 
famous 18th Brumaire, finally destroyed the first French 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 329 

Republic ; it was there that he was proclaimed Emperor, and 
subsequently espoused the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. 
It was also at St. Cloud that Charles X. signed those fatal 
ordonnances which overthrew the regime of the Restoration ; 
there, too, that he quietly but fatuitously went on playing whist 
while his guard was dying for him in Paris, replying to M. de 
Semonville, who warned him that if he did not withdraw his 
ordonnances and change his ministers, the monarchy would be 
swept away, " I do not believe it. If my brother, Louis XVI., 
fell, it was from weakness ; besides, I am quite ready to appear 
before God." 

Again, it was at St. Cloud that Napoleon III. received 
official communication of the plebiscitum which made him 
Emperor of the French ; it was from the chateau that he 
started on his triumphal entry into Paris ; and it was there 
that he decided, in 1870, on the disastrous war which swept 
him from his throne. The official proclamation of that war 
was dated from the chateau, and it was from a railway siding 
in the park that the Emperor set out for Metz with the young 
Imperial Prince, who was soon to receive his baptism of fire. 

We have said that the chateau was large. In addition to 
all the State rooms and the private apartments of the Emperor 
and Empress, it included forty-five small suites for guests, 
accommodation for six hundred officials and domestics, -together 
with stabling for two hundred and thirty horses, and coach- 
houses for twenty carriages. In the guard-house forty troopers 
and nearly two hundred infantrymen could be quartered, but 
there was also a neighbouring barracks for more than fifteen 
hundred men. The fine park spread over an expanse of nearly 
a thousand acres. 

The interior decorations of the chateau were superb. The 
ceilings of the state apartments — the great Gallery of Apollo, 
the Salons of Mars, Diana, Venus, and Truth — ranked as 
masterpieces of Mignard, Coypel, and Le Moyne. Valuable 
pictures and statuary decorated the rooms — Pradier"'s Sappho, 
Van der Meulen's equestrian portrait of Louis XIV., a large 
number of Canalettos, a fine series of Vernets, some good 
Bouchers, a precious suite of Gobelins tapestry after Rubens.,* 
* The Marie de' Medici series at the Louvre, 



830 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

an infinity of Boule work, and other valuable seventeenth and 
eighteenth century furniture. Looking towards the chateau, 
the private apartments of the Emperor and Empress were on 
the first-floor of the right-hand wing. The Emperor's suite 
was one of five rooms ; his cabinet had been Louis Philippe's 
dressing-room, his bedchamber that sovereign's study. The 
Empress's suite included several salons with historical associa- 
tions. That assigned to her ladies-in-waiting had witnessed 
the famous fracas between the Duke d'Angouleme and Marshal 
Marmont at the Revolution of 1 830, when the former assaulted 
the latter in a fashion as cowardly as it was brutal. Li the 
Empress's cabinet stood the writing-table of Louis XVI., and 
several articles of furniture which had been used by Marie 
Antoinette, while the locks of the doors of this apartment, as 
well as those of others, were entirely the handiwork of 
Louis XVI., an expert locksmith, as we know. Then there 
was the Vernet salon, at one time the study of Louis XVIII. 
and Charles X., and the salon which had once been the bed- 
chamber of Henrietta of England, daughter of Charles I., and 
which had witnessed her sudden death when she was so foully 
poisoned by D'Effiat at the instigation of the Chevalier de 
Lorraine. The dining-room had been occupied by Peter the 
Great when he sojourned at the chateau, and it was there that 
Napoleon I. had taken his meals, assigning armchairs to him- 
self, the Empress Marie Louise, and Madame Mere, but 
instructing his majordomo that only ordinary chairs were to be 
provided for his brothers, the Kings of Spain, Holland, and 
Westphalia, and his brother-in-law, the King of Naples. 
Further, there was the salon where the Council of Ministers 
assembled when the Court of the Second Empire was at St. 
Cloud. This had been the bedchamber in turn of Marie 
Antoinette, Josephine, and Marie Louise. 

The apartments of the Imperial Prince were on the ground- 
floor of the chateau, under those of his father and mother. 
Prior to the establishment of the Empire they had been occupied 
by Miss Howard. On the ground-floor of the wing on the other 
side of the Cour d'honneur were the quarters of Marshal 
Vaillant and General Rolin, over which extended the great 
Gallery of Apollo, so wonderfully and pompously decorated by 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 331 

Mignard, whose mythological and other paintings possessed 
historical as well as artistic value, since so many of them 
represented great personages of his period : Louis XIII., 
Louis XIV., his brother the Duke of Orleans, Anne of Austria, 
the great Dauphin, the Princess Palatine, the future Regent 
of Orleans, and many great ladies of the Court. Unhappily 
all was lost in the conflagration of 1870 — a conflagration 
which may have been caused by French or by German shells,* 
All that can be said with absolute certainty is that the 
Germans appropriated most of the valuable articles saved 
from the Are — relics of St. Cloud being nowadays scattered 
over the Fatherland. Already, in 1815, Blucher, who then 
occupied the chateau, had marked his envy and hatred of its 
magnificence by tearing the hangings and even the bed linen 
with his spurs, smashing the mirrors and allowing his pack of 
hounds the free run of the stateliest apartments. Fortunately 
the arrival of Wellinoton to settle the terms of the surrender of 
Paris prevented further excesses. 

In addition to Queen Victoria, the royalties entertained at 
St. Cloud during the Second Empire included Victor Emmanuel 
and Humbert of Italy, Francis King-Consort of Spain, and 
Maximilian of Bavaria, son of the lover of "Lola Months." 
Thither, too, came the wife of another Maximilian, the un- 
fortunate Charlotte of Mexico. A few years previously she 
and her husband had been guests at the Tuileries, where the 
latter was prevailed upon to accept the Mexican crown. It has 
been said that he yielded not only to the persuasions of 
Napoleon III. and the Empress Eugenie, but also to those of 
his wife, whose disposition was ambitious. The youngest and 
favourite brother of the Emperor Francis Joseph, Maximilian 
was supreme head of the Austrian navy, and had served his 
apprenticeship in statecraft as governor of the Italian possessions 
of Austria. But his wife, Charlotte, the youngest child of 
Leopold I. of Belgium by Louise of Orleans, had desires above 
a position which, however high and honourable, was neverthe- 
less a subordinate one. She, then, it appears, yielded the more 

* The destruction of the palace, in October, 1870, has been variously 
ascribed to the fire of the German artillery on adjacent heights, to a French 
shell from Mont Valerien, and to one from the French gunboat the Farcy. 



332 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

readily to the temptations of the French Court, and helped to 
prevail upon her husband to embark on that disastrous Mexican 
adventure. They were both quite young at the time, he not 
more than one and thirty, tall, slim, aristocratic, with a fair 
flowing beard, she only three and twenty, but accomplished, 
speaking five languages, with a tall, well-proportioned figure, a 
distinguished if somewhat stiff bearing, a round face, a bright 
complexion, and large, dark, beaded eyes. 

In April, 1866, the Moniteur announced the approaching 
withdrawal of the French troops from Mexico. They were to 
quit the country at intervals, in detachments, and though it was 
asserted by French imperialists that Maximilian''s position was 
such that he would easily maintain himself on the throne, he 
was in reality overwhelmed by Napoleon's decision to abandon 
him. The Empress Charlotte hastened to France, and reaching 
Paris early in August repaired to the Grand Hotel, whence she 
wrote to Napoleon asking him to receive her. Court carriages 
and a sovereign's escort of cuirassiers were despatched to convey 
her to St. Cloud, where the Emperor and Empress awaited her 
at the entrance of the chateau. The scene was a moving one. 
The countenance of the Empress Charlotte proclaimed her 
agitation, her anxiety, the many trials and sufferings through 
which she had passed. Napoleon and his consort were likewise 
stirred. Their consciences may well have reproached them, for 
it was they who had sent that unhappy woman and her husband 
on that wild adventure across the Atlantic, and now the great 
enterprise was fast collapsing, and Charlotte, who had quitted 
France radiant with joyful ambition, had returned haggard, 
careworn, and despairing. There was a long interview in the 
private rooms of the Empress Eugenie. For two hours the 
Empress Charlotte pleaded her husband's cause, beseeching 
Napoleon not to abandon him. But in vain. Confronted by 
the threats of the United States, the Emperor dared not 
prolong the French occupation beyond the dates agreed upon. 

A strange incident marked the interview. The Empress 
Charlotte was accompanied by two Mexican ladies-in-waiting, 
to whom Mme. Carette, the Empress Eugenie's lady, offered 
some refreshment. Thereupon one of them particularly 
requested her to send some orangeade to the Empress Charlotte, 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 333 

and orders to that effect were given to a maitre d'hote!. But 
the Empress Euge'nie expressed great surprise at the arrival 
of this orangeade in the midst of such an important discussion, 
and inquired who had ordered it to be sent. The man explained 
that he had brought it by Mme. Carette's instructions, and the 
Empress Eugenie thereupon offered the beverage to the Empress 
Charlotte, who, however, only accepted it after a good deal of 
insistence.* The interview then proceeded, and Maximilian's 
consort renewed her entreaties. But Napoleon could only 
tender advice, which was that, if Maximilian's position was such 
as the Empress Charlotte depicted it, he had better return 
to Europe with the French troops. Napoleon repeated that 
advice on the morrow, when he visited the Empress Charlotte 
at the Grand Hotel. But if Maximilian had originally hesitated 
to embark on the enterprise, he was now unwilling to abandon 
it. A genuine Hapsburg, with all the obstinate pride of his 
race, he held that his honour was involved in the task to which 
he had put his hand. Nor did the idea of relinquishment 
appeal to the Empress Charlotte, for it meant the downfall of 
her hopes, the wrecking of her ambition. She resolved to apply 
to the Emperor of Austria for help, and enlist the influence of 
her brother, the King of the Belgians.-j* Under the adverse 
blows of fate, however, her reason was already tottering. Before 
she quitted Paris she already complained of violent pains in the 
head, of feverishness and agitation, which she could not subdue, 
and for which she could not account until the idea suddenly 
seized upon her that she had been poisoned — poisoned by the 
orangeade which had been given her at St. Cloud ! Napoleon, 
bent on abandoning her husband, and wishing to get rid of her 
importunities, stifle her protests and complaints, had tendered 
her a poisoned cup by which he had hoped to silence her for 
ever ! 

It was, of course, mere delusion. The Emperor, whatever 
may be thought of him, was no Borgia, and the fancies of the 

* The story will be found related in detail in the first part of Mme. Carette's 
" Souvenirs intimes." 

t Leopold I. had died in December, 1865. Mme. Carette, who often errs in 
her " history," and can only be followed in matters which came under her 
immediate observation, writes as though the Empress Charlotte's father had 
been still alive in the autumn of 1866. 



334 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Empress Charlotte would merely have been amusing had they 
not ended so tragically. She went on her desperate pilgrimage. 
She appealed to both her brother and her brother-in-law, but 
they could only repeat the advice of the Emperor of the French : 
Maximilian must quit Mexico. At last the Empress Charlotte 
turned to the Pope as to a supreme resource. She felt that it 
was in the PontifTs power both to influence the Catholic 
sovereigns of Europe in her favour, and, in the name of religion, 
to exact of the Mexicans themselves submission to her husband's 
rule. She repaired, then, to Rome, and it was there that her 
reason finally gave way. In a dramatic interview at the Vatican 
she threw herself at the feet of Pius IX., beseeching him to 
shield her, imploring him to lodge her in his palace, the only 
place, she said, where she would be safe from the poisoners who 
pursued her. Her mind was gone. 

It does hot appear that she ever became violently insane. 
The state in which she at first remained was one of profound 
mental dejection, induced by her anxieties and disappointments. 
She had put her trust in princes and the sons of men, and 
the result was too hard for her to bear. At first, the doctors 
did not despair of a cure. They advised, by way of remedy, a 
total change of scene, and Como was suggested as a residence. 
The unfortunate woman was, in the first instance, removed from 
Rome to Vienna, and was still there in 1867 when the news 
arrived that her husband had become a prisoner of the Mexican 
Republicans. Her intellect had then grown weaker, but, as in 
the earlier stages of her aberration, there were yet some occa- 
sional brief intervals of sanity, though it may be taken, broadly, 
that the idea that she was threatened by poisoners had become 
a fixed one. She spent many hours in writing her husband 
letters, which were brimful of affection, but which, it seems, 
yere never forwarded — indeed, it soon became impossible to do 
so. We cannot say if there is any truth in the story that a 
rumour of the Empress Charlotte's death reached Mexico before 
Maximilian's execution, and that he, on hearing it, exclaimed : 
" It is better thus, she will not know my fate ; " but it is certain 
that when the news of the execution at Queretaro arrived in 
Europe, the doctors attending the Empress Charlotte thought 
that the tragedy might lead to the cure of their patient. They 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 835 

were of opinion that, in addition to a return to the scenes of 
youth, a sudden shock — such as the tidings of her husband's 
death might give her — would greatly help to restore her reason. 
Those hopes were disappointed. The subject was broached one 
day during a brief lucid interval, the Empress being told that 
her husband was in peril and might lose his life. " Better that 
than his honour," she replied, and before the whole truth could 
be brought home to her she had relapsed into her usual con- 
dition. It does not appear that she has ever known, ever been 
really conscious of her husband's fate. The return to youthful 
scenes failed like other suggested remedies. For long years 
now the unfortunate Princess has lived in Belgium, chiefly, 
we believe, at the Boushout palace, where she has often been 
visited by her brother the King, and her niece, the Princess 
Clementine. Now and then, as in earlier years, the mental 
gloom has seemed to lift, and she has spoken rationally enough 
on one or another subject. But the veil has suddenly fallen 
again, and she has failed to recognize those about her. Of 
Mexico she appears to retain no recollection, never mentioning 
it even in lucid moments. Only one thought seems to survive 
in her mind — the obligation to worship God. Every day she 
prays in the chapel of the palace, repeating her rosary aloud 
— consciously or unconsciously, we cannot say. For some 
forty years has the unhappy lady endured this dreadful living 
death. 

The fates of Maximilian and Charlotte constitute one of the 
crimes of the Empire, which nothing can wash away. Whatever 
may have been the former's arbitrary decrees, whatever the 
latter's young ambition, it must not be forgotten that these 
two would never have gone to Mexico had it not been for the 
blandishments and persuasion brought to bear on them, the 
temptations and promises held out to them at that palace — that 
fatal palace, we repeat it — of the Tuileries. 

At the time of the Empress Charlotte's visit to St. Cloud, 
Napoleon IH. was in very bad health, owing to the progress 
already made by the complaint which led to his death in 18T3. 
The English doctors were then of opinion that the affection 
had originated some eight or ten years previously^ and a private 
letter written by M. Rouher (who was in a position to know a 



Sm THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

great deal) confirms that view, it being stated therein that the 
first characteristic symptoms showed themselves in 1863. In 
the following year while the Emperor was in Switzerland there 
came a very bad attack, attended by hematuria. His doctors 
thereupon ordered complete rest, and after a delay of some 
three weeks he was able to return to France. A short time 
previously a severe accident had befallen some members of the 
imperial party, notably Princess Anna Murat and Mme. Carette, 
and the prolongation of the Emperor's sojourn in Switzerland 
was generally, though wrongly, attributed at that time to his 
solicitude for those ladies. 

During the ensuing summer (1865) while Napoleon was at 
the camp of Chalons he sent one morning for his medical 
attendant, Baron Larrey, to whom he made certain communi- 
cations. " The symptoms, as fully explained by himself," wrote 
Baron Larrey twenty-one years afterwards,* " were for me, as 
they would have been for any other surgeon, conclusive 
symptoms of calculus in the vesica." The Baron accordingly 
begged the Emperor to submit to proper examination, but he 
would not consent, indeed he strictly enjoined on the doctor 
that he should say nothing on the subject to anybody what- 
ever. In the following year there was a repetition of the 
same symptoms, and various doctors were consulted by the 
Emperor, but Larrey was not among them, nor was he included 
in subsequent consultations. 

Napoleon did not put much faith either in the medical art 
or in those who practised it. On various occasions, instead of 
applying to any of the eminent men included in his service 
medical, he consulted any staff-doctor who happened to be on 
duty at the Tuileries. The latter often ascribed serious 
symptoms to a mere passing indisposition, and prescribed some 
simple palliative remedy. Moreover, several of the better men 
differed respecting the nature of the Emperor"'s complaint, some 
opining that it was vesical catarrh and others diagnosing gouty 
symptoms ; which conflict of views tended to increase the 
Emperor's scepticism respecting medical science. 

He was of a lymphatic nature, and anosmia had been induced 
by his long imprisonment at Ham, resulting in cutaneous and 
* Letter addressed to Le Figaro, on February 8, 1886. 



THE EMPEROR'S ILLNESS 337 

muscular hyperaesthesia, which became most marked under the 
influence of cold, when also great sensibility, as manifested by 
shooting pains, sometimes appeared in the extremities. An 
hemorrhoidal complaint, which had also been induced by the 
confinement at Ham, had increased the anaemia, which, accord- 
ing to the Emperor's subsequent admissions, had sometimes led 
to fainting fits ; but virtually the only trace of it left in the 
last year of the reign was the hyperesthesia we have mentioned. 
There were no symptoms of rheumatism (as some had diagnosed) 
at all. If the hyperaesthesia had been due to rheumatic causes 
and not to anemia, there would have been heart complaint, but 
there was none. Further, the few gouty symptoms which had 
shown themselves were in no wise of a rheumatic nature ; but 
vesical lesion existed. All other organs were regarded as sound.* 
From the presence of calculus it would seem that the treatment 
prescribed for the Emperor throughout a period of many years 
was altogether wrong. The first spa selected for him by his 
medical advisers was Plombieres in the Vosges, whose waters 
may not have done him any particular harm, and may even 
have been beneficial with respect to passing affections, but a 
terrible blunder was committed when he was sent to Vichy 
in the Bourbonnais. This first occurred, we believe, in July, 
1861, while his complaint was in an incipient state, and Vichy 
becoming his usual place of resort for treatment, pernicious 
consequences ensued. The effect indeed of the Vichy waters 
was to increase the volume of the calculus.! 

In 1865, when the true character of his symptoms was 
secretly revealed to Baron Larrey, the Emperor paid a visit to 
Algeria. There were good political reasons for the journey, 
but, according to some accounts, it was really undertaken by 
medical advice, it being thought that the sufferer might benefit 
by a sojourn in a warm climate. It is pointed out that the 
situation was then evidently regarded as serious by some of the 
doctors, for, although the Emperor did not quit French 
territory, he invested the Empress with the powers of Regent, 
and also made his will before quitting St. Cloud. But there 

* The above account is abbreviated from the report of the famous medical 
consultation on the eve of the Franco-German War, 
f Dr. Constantiij James. 

z 



338 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

are some other points to be considered, such as the Marguerite 
Bellanger affair, the intervention of President Devienne, the 
estrangement between Napoleon and his consort, and the neces- 
sity of effecting a reconciliation, in which respect the regency, 
the will, and the Algerian journey may all have been helpful. 
In the following year, however, the Emperor*'s symptoms were 
certainly severe. Mental anxiety always reacts on such com- 
plaints as his, and there can be no doubt that his health at the 
time — it was the year of the war between Prussia and Austria — 
greatly influenced his foreign policy, inclining him the more to 
accept the suggestions of those who advised negotiation with 
Prussia rather than armed intervention. Eager for treatment 
after great worries of State, which were not yet ended, he 
repaired to Vichy on July 27, that is about three weeks after 
the battle of Koniggratz, attended by his Chef-de-cabinet, 
Conti, and speedily followed by his Foreign Minister, Drouyn 
de Lhuys. But the arrival of the Empress Charlotte in France 
necessitated his prompt return to St. Cloud. Somewhat later 
his complaint gave much trouble, and alarming rumours led to 
a fall in the funds. But in the latter part of October he 
was restored to average good health, making excursions in the 
environs of Paris, experimenting with the Chassepot rifle, and 
shooting over the coverts at St. Cloud. 

In 1867 he went to Vichy again, and this time the ill effects 
of the waters became so marked, the hematuria re-appearing, 
that the treatment was stopped. In the following year he did 
not visit Vichy, but reverted to Plombieres, hoping, perhaps, to 
obtain relief from the waters there. It seems as if his doctors 
hardly knew what course to suggest. That, in addition to 
being sceptical in medical matters, he was also a very reticent 
man is well known. Although, in a sudden moment of anxiety, 
he had confided everything to Larrey, it does not follow that 
he acted likewise with other medical advisers. W^e at least 
know that until his stay at Vichy in 1867 he submitted to no 
examination at all, and the discord among the doctors and the 
erroneous early treatment may have been due in some degree to 
his own lack of outspoken confidence. In any case, his complaint 
was not checked, but grew more serious each year. In August, 
1869, he became so ill that he had to keep his room, and in 



THE EMPEROR'S ILLNESS 339 

spite of all precautions ominous rumours again spread through 
Paris. The old story of rheumatism which had so often done 
duty already, was thereupon repeated in order to allay public 
apprehension, the Journal Officiel stating, on August 18 : 
" Alarming reports respecting the Emperor's health have been 
circulated. Those reports are incorrect. His Majesty's rheu- 
matic pains are subsiding."" But people with any acumen were 
not deceived. It was known that Dr. Ricord had been sum- 
moned, and the mere name of that renowned specialist indicated 
that the Emperor's complaint, whatever might be exactly its 
nature, came within the range of the cases which Ricord 
treated. Moreover, on the same day as the official note 
appeared, the Independance Beige published a telegram from 
Paris stating that the Emperor's health Avas improving, favour- 
able results having attended the employment of an instrument * 
which was named. Henri Rochefort immediately pointed out 
in Le Rappel that this nevvs amply proved that the Emperor's 
complaint could not be rheumatism. As a matter of fact, 
though some persons, such as Prince Napoleon, Marshal 
Leboeuf, and even General Lebrun, subsequently declared that 
they were ignorant of the truth until the early stages of the 
war of 1870, the secret of the Emperor's condition was already, 
in 1869, tending to become a " secret de Polichinelle " in 
various Parisian circles. 

Respecting the social side of the visits which the Emperor, in 
his desire for cure, paid annually to Plombieres or Vichy there is 
not much to be said. Both at the spa commended by Montaigne, 
and that celebrated by Mme. de Sevigne, his patronage led to a 
great influx of fashionable folk and money ; and the State, the 
municipalities, and the water companies spent large sums on 
the improvement of both the baths and the towns. The 
Emperor's retinue was usually very small as the Empress did 
not accompany him on those trips.f He was often pursued by 
urgent State business. The famous conference with Count 
Cavour on Italian affairs took place, it will be remembered, at 

* We know from the diagnosis of July, 1870, that the same course had 
become necessary at Vichy in 1867. 

t One year, when suffering from a stomachic complaint, she repaired to 
the spa of Schwalbach, in Nassau, where she was extremely well received by 
the inhabitants. 



340 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Plombieres in 1858. There were also official receptions which 
the Emperor could not escape. For the rest he led a very 
simple life, drinking the waters, making excursions in the 
surrounding country, and occasionally attending a concert or 
theatrical performance at a casino. Sometimes he patronized 
a neighbouring village fete^ and the good-natured familiarity 
with which he then mixed with the peasants won him many a 
staunch adherent in those parts of France. 

One evening, on turning up at a village dance near Vichy, 
he singled out a good-looking girl and asked her to be his 
partner. It was by no means the first time he had done such a 
thing, but it aroused all the customary enthusiasm. While the 
dance proceeded, however, an old peasant among the onlookers 
remarked to the orderly in mufti, who was in attendance on the 
Emperor : " Think of that, now ! Do you see how pleased 
Marie Boilon looks at having the Emperor for her partner ? 
She's my niece, you know." "Ah!" said the officer, "she 
certainly does look pleased, as you say." " Yes," continued the 
old man, " she won't forget it, not if she lives for a hundred 
years. Voyez vous, monsieur, Fm getting old, and Fve seen a 
few things in my time. We had Charles X., he was the King 
of the Nobility. Then we had Louis Philippe, he was the 
King of the Bourgeois; but Napoleon — you can't say the 
contrary — he's the Emperor of the Peasants ! " Marie Boilon's 
uncle was right. He had briefly summed up the history of France 
for a period of half a century, and there is no gainsaying the 
fact that the peasantry constituted the backbone of the Empire. 

Another element of the nation with which the Emperor 
strove to ingratiate himself was the army, not merely the officers 
but the ranks also ; and, on the whole, he succeeded in this 
respect until that fateful year 1870, when, after the Plebiscitum 
had revealed the presence of a certain contingent of malcon- 
tents in the forces, the advent of war a little later introduced 
with the Mobile Guard a yet stronger Republican element, 
impatient of discipline, into their midst, while the early 
disastrous reverses capped everything by destroying confidence 
in the military capacity of the Emperor and his Marshals. 
For years, however. Napoleon made much of his soldiers. If he 
sent them to die amid the snow and ice of the Crimea, among 



THE CAMP OF CHALONS 341 

the maize fields of Lombardy, or under the fierce sun of Mexico, 
he petted them in France; and in time of peace, during his 
more vigorous years, he interested himself in the question of 
their creature-comforts with as much zealous assiduity as the 
Duke of Cambridge displayed in England. 

The Camp of Chalons was a great institution of the reign. 
It dated from 1857, when the earlier Camp of Boulogne was 
raised. It seems certain that the change was brought about by 
considerations of policy. An entente cordiale existing with 
Great Britain, the continuance of a great camp on the Channel 
coast might well seem offensive to that power. But apart from 
any regard for British feeling, the transference of the army's 
chief training camp from the west to the east of France, was 
dictated, we think, even at so early a date as 1857, by the 
Emperor's aspirations to restore to France what was deemed to 
be her legitimate frontier on the Rhine. The opportunity for 
an effort of that kind, lost in 1864 and again in 1866, presented 
itself once more, though under different and more difficult 
circumstances, in 1870 — with what results we know. Yet for 
thirteen years the Camp of Chalons had existed with a view 
to facilitating the invasion of Germany. Its creation testified 
to foresight as well as ambition on the Emperor's part. If, 
instead of invading, he should be invaded, that camp and its 
organization might render good service. But, again, it all 
ended as we know. 

The camp was established on a great heath-like expanse 
lying several miles north of Chalons, and limited by rivers on 
the south-west and north-east. The front line was about 
eight miles long, the area available for encampments, ranges, 
and manoeuvring being about 30,000 acres. Water was 
abundant, thanks to the boring of wells, the proximity of the 
two rivers we have mentioned, and the existence of a streamlet 
called the Cheneu which intersected the camp for some distance, 
the cavalry and infantry quarters being located on one side of 
that streamlet, while the artillery, the service corps, the adminis- 
trative departments, the magazines, slaughter-houses, bake- 
houses, etc., were on the other. Each division had its hospital, 
and a tramway ran through the entire camp, which was 
illumined at night by four large lighthouses. Wooden buildings 



342 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

were provided for some of the troops, while others slept under 
canvas. On some rising ground near a fine old Roman road by 
which the camp was also crossed, various pavilions and chalets 
were erected for the headquarters of the marshal or general in 
command and the accommodation of the Emperor and his suite 
Avhen he visited the camp. There was also a small dairy farm 
near this spot, in addition to seven other farms which Napoleon, 
with a view to utilizing all the manure yielded by the camp, 
established around it on land which had been lying waste for 
centuries. For that he must be commended. Those farms, 
managed on the best principles and extending over some 
6000 acres, were so many practical schools of agriculture, and 
exercised no little influence on agricultural methods in that part 
of France. For some years there was little return for the money 
expended on them, but by 1867 they were paying ten per cent, 
on the capital invested. 

During June, July, and August, as many as 60,000 men 
were sometimes assembled at the Camp of Chalons, but the 
average number was then about 40,000, falling to a quarter 
or a fifth of that figure at other seasons of the year. The 
Emperor's visit usually took place during the first fortnight 
in August. Many foreign royalties and generals were present 
at one or another time. The Empress was also an occasional 
visitor, and from 1860 onward the young Imperial Prince came 
from Paris to witness the manoeuvres and reviews. His first 
visit, at the date we have mentioned, when he was little more 
than four years old and rode a diminutive Shetland pony called 
Balmoral, the gift of Queen Victoria, aroused delirious enthu- 
siasm among the soldiers. The routine of camp-life was as 
follows : On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, manoeuvres 
by part or all of the forces ; on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 
Saturdays, artillery practice from dawn until 11 a.m., then 
infantry practice until nightfall. It was at Chalons that De 
Reffye's mitrailleuses were first tested on any considerable scale, 
and that the famous Chassepot rifle inspired those great 
expectations which were in a considerable measure falfilled 
the first time the weapon was used in action — against the 
Garibaldians at Mentana. 

Napoleon was always keenly interested in the gun and rifle 



THE CAMP OF CHALONS 343 

practice. The greater part of his time at Chalons was given 
to noting its results. Even in the final years of his reign he 
showed no little activity when he was at the camp, an activity 
simply marvellous when one remembers his complaint. On 
horseback, when he had once really sat down and taken his 
charger, Hero, by the head, he still made the pace very strong, 
too strong, indeed, for some of the generals. There can be 
little doubt that he often punished himself severely. But he 
was a man of great physical courage. All imputations of 
cowardice cast at him in former years, should be unreservedly 
withdrawn, they are unworthy of figuring in the pages of 
history. The saying " to grin and bear it "" expresses, in our 
opinion, his line of conduct with reference to his malady. In 
a mistaken way, he sacrificed himself to the regime he had 
founded. All the concealment so long practised respecting his 
illness was inspired by solicitude for the Empire. Nobody 
was to know the truth lest the regime should totter under the 
revelation, and its adversaries be inspirited to yet greater efforts 
against it. Yet it would have been better for the Empire, as 
well as for the Emperor himself, if he had submitted to proper 
treatment when he was first urged to do so by Baron Larrey. 
The course of the disease might then have been arrested, and 
France might have retained a still vigorous instead of a more 
and more valetudinarian monarch. But there was Prussia, 
there was the succession to the throne, there were so many 
interests to be considered. And no, no, there must be no 
revelation, no risk of operation, he must jog on as best he 
could, even supposing that Larrey were right — which, judging 
by what other doctors said, was by no means certain. 

Napoleon mixed freely with his soldiers during his stay at 
the Camp of Chalons. Often, while he was strolling about in 
undress uniform, he would ask Corporal Lagloire for a light, or 
exchange a few words with Drummer Rataplan and offer him a 
cigarette. He frequently dined in the open air, and afterwards 
sat over a camp fire, smoking and partaking of coffee. The men 
on their side got up entertainments to amuse the imperial 
party in the evening. The Zouaves could always be relied 
upon to improvise some laughable show. They "played at 
Arabs" in a manner which vastly diverted the Duke of 



344 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Cambridge on one of his visits to the camp. One Zouave 
would climb on another's shoulders, and the pair, after being 
robed by their comrades as if forming but a single individual, 
appeared before the company in the guise of a truly gigantic 
Bedouin. Again, in some mysterious fashion, two or three men 
combined together so as to form a very realistic camel, their 
grey blankets simulating the hide of the animal, on whose 
hump another Zouave, robed in sheeting, presently perched 
himself, gazing around with all the dignity of a genuine desert 
sheik. There was also the Arab wedding, when the young 
bride, impersonated by some bearded Zouave, swathed from 
head to foot, sat on the ground attended by matrons, who 
sang the praises of her many virtues, while some scores of com- 
rades, draped in sheeting and blankets, danced around to wild, 
discordant music. 

There were many other entertainments and amusements 
for the soldiers — skittle alleys, jugglers' booths, a theatre, and 
a cafe-concert where professional talent was displayed, while 
some crazy billiard-tables were to be found in the adjacent 
village of Mourmelan-le-Grand. Again, strips of land for 
gardens vrere allotted to different regiments, and many men 
spent their spare time in raising lettuces and radishes, the 
Zouaves further adorning their plots with flowers and young 
fir trees. They of course were a genre a part, but one was 
struck, particularly in the camp's earlier years, by the similarity 
of many of the uniforms of the Second Empire with those of 
the First. The Grenadiers of the Guard, with their huge 
busbies of an old-fashioned type, their bronzed cheeks and big 
moustaches, particularly suggested the vieucc de la vieille of 
1812 and 1813. They more than once sat to Horace Vernet 
and Meissonier as models. Unluckily few of those men were left 
in 1870. 

High Mass on Sunday mornings, particularly during the 
Emperor's stay at the camp, was an impressive if somewhat 
theatrical spectacle. There was a chapel on the ground, but 
Sunday Mass was celebrated at an altar on a lofty staging, 
around which the troops assembled in full uniform and under 
arms, the cavalry, however, being on foot. Thousands of 
people came from neighbouring towns and villages to see the 



THE MARSHALS OF FRANCE 345 

sight. Sometimes the chief Army-Chaplain, sometimes the 
Bishop of Nancy, and on special occasions, like the Fete Napoleon, 
the Cardinal Archbishop of Reims, officiated. The Emperor 
stood just below the staging, surrounded by marshals and 
generals and attended by Cent-Gardes. The Domine salvumfac 
Imperatoreni and the Te Deum were accompanied by massed 
military bands, but the supreme moment of the ceremony was 
that of the elevation of the Host. As the officiant turned and 
raised the glittering monstrance towards the broad blue heavens 
each soldier fell on one knee, presenting arms or saluting with 
the sword, and at the same moment the colours were lowered, 
the drums beat, and the field-pieces roared in unison. 

But, as we previously indicated, life at the camp of Chalons 
was not all amusement and pageantry. The reviews, retraites 
mixflambeaux^Qxidi other solemnities and diversions which marked 
the Emperor's visits came as interludes amid the more serious 
work. We cannot here enter in detail into the question why 
that work did not prove more successful when put to the test, but 
the chief cause seems to have been lack of real military genius 
among those to whom the charge of the French army was 
committed. The Empire was unfortunate in its Ministers of 
War. Marshal St. Arnaud died prematurely in the Crimea, 
Marshal Niel was carried off by the same complaint as Napoleon's, 
leaving his efforts at reorganization unfinished.* One who, had 
he been trusted, might, perhaps, have proved an efficient War 
Minister, Marshal Bosquet, also died early. 

We have previously said something of those commanders 
and a few others, and it is, perhaps, appropriate to add some 
particulars respecting their colleagues in the Marechalat of the 
second Napoleonic era. The first, we think, counted three and 
twenty Marshals of France, in the second we find as many as 
nineteen,! some of whom, as already indicated, were cut off 
prematurely or died in the Empire's early years. In that respect, 

* By great misfortune an instrument broke during one of Nelaton's 
operations on Marshal Niel, and the pieces could not be extracted. Napoleon 
heard of this, and shrank the more from the risk of an operation, not from 
cowardice, but on account of the great issues at stake. 

t We include in that number all who were created Marshals by Napoleon 
III., either as President or as Emperor. 



346 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Excelmans, Ornano and Harispe may be added to Bosquet, 
Niel, and St. Arnaud. Further, Jerome Bonaparte was past all 
service at the time of his promotion. Then Vaillant, after 
acting as War Minister during the Crimean campaign, confined 
himself to his position at the head of the Emperor"'s Household. 
There remain eleven to be mentioned. First, there was the one- 
armed veteran Baraguey d'Hilliers, born in 1795, who took 
Bomarsund in 1854, defeated the Austrians in 1859, and returned 
to active service — though not to command in the field — in 1870 
when he was seventy-five years of age. He was a soldier of the 
old-fashioned type, capable in his way. Next may be mentioned 
Castellane, Baraguey 's senior by eight years, a good soldier in 
his younger days but employed by the Empire, if we remember 
rightly, only on home service, mainly as Governor of Lyons. 
Then there was Magnan, Governor of Paris, whose chief military 
exploit, as previously narrated, was the Coup d'Etat and who 
was removed from the scene in 1865. On the other hand, 
Regnault de St. Jean d'Angely showed some capacity during 
the Italian war of 1859 and commanded the Imperial Guard 
until his death early in 1870, when he was succeeded in that 
post by General Bourbaki. 

A more important man was Marshal Randon, who also died 
in 1870. He had been War Minister for a while in 1851, and 
again held that office from 1859 to 1867, during which period 
his authority proved disastrous for the army, for as ex-Governor 
of Algeria he was an apostle as well as a pupil of that Algerian 
school of warfare which, as a school for hostilities against 
European forces, was the worst that could have been found. 
Randon was also very neglectful in his departmental duties, 
and much that happened in 1870 may be directly traced back 
to him. If he retained his position so long, it was, perhaps, 
because as an "elegant Minister," renowned for his entertain- 
ments, he was supported by so much Court influence. 

He had been succeeded in Algeria by Marshal Pelissier, the 
" conqueror of Sebastopol," a plump, stumpy little man, with 
dark eyes, black moustache, and white hair, in whom the 
military ability and confidence of an old soudard were united 
with the worst characteristics of the Norman peasantry, from 
whose ranks he had sprung. Entering the Artillery of Louis 



THE MARSHALS OF FRANCE 347 

XVIII.'s Guard in 1815, just before Napoleon's return from 
Elba, Pelissier had seen active service in Spain under the Duke 
d'Angouleme, then in Morea, and next in Algeria, where he 
achieved European notoriety by " smoking" some five hundred 
Arab fugitives in their caves. In 1855 he took over the 
Crimean command from Canrobert, and reduced Sebastopol, for 
which achievement he was rewarded with the rank of Marshal 
of France, the title of Duke of Malakoff', a senatorship, and the 
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. 

Thereby hangs a tale. Pelissier, as we have said, had some 
peasant characteristics, and among them were greed and par- 
simony. Still there was justification for the attitude he 
assumed when he was called upon to pay the various fees of 
investiture connected with the dignities conferred on him. 
Those fees amounted to about ^£"400, and the usual application 
was made to the Marshal. " What ! " he angrily exclaimed ; 
" I took Sebastopol for you, and you want me to pay for doing 
so ! Tonnerre de Dieit, you won't get a sou from me ! " The 
matter was reported to the Emperor, who laughed good- 
naturedly, put his hand in his pocket, and paid the fees himself. 
On the whole, although Pelissier's rewards meant a large 
increase of emoluments, one can understand his irritation. 
National services, so different from services to a political party, 
ought always to be rewarded " free of charge." 

Unfortunately, Pelissier did not merely tighten his purse- 
strings under justifiable circumstances. He was invariably 
niggardly and grasping. His Christian name, Aimable, was the 
very antithesis of his snappish, cantankerous disposition. The 
vulgarity of his speech and the ribald coarseness of his jests 
were a perpetual shock to people of culture and decency. 
Nevertheless, thanks to the interposition of the Empress 
Eugenie, he contrived to marry a bewitching Andalucian 
beauty, the SeSorita Sophia de la Paniega, of Granada,* who 
survived him for several years, after leading a by no means 
happy life in her matrimonial bonds. Although PeHssier had 
no courtly or diplomatic qualifications — being but a rough 
soldier, brave undoubtedly, intelligent also in his profession 
(yet achieving pre-eminence in the Crimea chiefly by reason of 

* Her father was an impoverished Marquis. At the time of the marriage 
in 1858 she was 26 years old, Pelissier being 38 years her senior. 



348 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

the marked mediocrity of the men around him) — he was sent, 
after the Orsini affair, to replace Persigny as French ambassador 
in London. The British Government, mindful of Pelissier's 
Crimean record, could not object to the appointment, but it 
was one for which the Marshal was in no way fit. Later, as we 
have said, he went to Algeria, where his administration proved 
galling, predatory, and brutal, engendering rising after rising 
among the natives. The Marshal's chief aim seemed to be the 
augmentation of his fortune, and as his subordinates followed his 
example, the native population was despoiled in so scandalous a 
manner that the home government had to intervene to ensure 
to the Arabs the possession of their remaining lands. Never- 
theless, insurrection spread, and was only being reduced after 
great efforts on the part of the French, when in May, 1864, 
Pelissier died suddenly at Algiers. He was* succeeded by 
MacMahon, who soon re-established order in the colony, its 
pacification being confirmed by the Emperor's visit in the 
following year. 

MacMahon was a born gentleman, and contrasted strongly 
with Pelissier. In his earlier years he had seen considerable 
service in Algeria ; then, removed to the Crimea, he had carried, 
as we all remember, the Malakoff" works of Sebastopol. Later, 
in Italy, his share of the victory of Magenta, had procured him 
both a Marshal's haton and the title of Duke. His abilities 
were not of the highest order, but he was a good divisional 
general, and as an administrator he at least managed to keep 
Algeria quiet during his command there. How, in 1870, he 
led his army to Sedan, how he was wounded there, will be 
readily recalled. How far, in later years, as President of the 
Republic, he became a consenting party to the schemes to 
restore a monarchy in France, cannot as yet be fully determined. 
Claiming descent from an ancient and noble Irish sept, he was 
an aristocrat by inclination, confirmed, too, in such sympathies 
by his marriage with a lady of high birth, whose influence over 
him was considerable. His rule in Algeria, which was almost 
absolute, his experience in command of the army which subdued 
the Commune of Paris, and thereby prevented the disruption 
of France, had made him an authoritarian, opposed to popular 
clamour and ascendency. At the same time, he had less personal 



THE MARSHALS OF FRANCE 349 

ambition and a great deal less unscrupulousness than Bazaine. 
His hands, too, were clean. If, then, he favoured a monarchical 
restoration, it was, we think, solely by lawful means. We have 
great doubts whether General de Rochebouefs scheme for a 
monarchist Coup d'Etat in the seventies really had MacMahon's 
assent and support. 

While he was President of the Republic, it was often said 
that he was deficient in intellect, a mere puppet in the hands 
of others, unable to make a sjjeech, and addicted to numerous 
failings. We were on the side against him in those days, 
holding that he had to give in or go out, even as Gambetta 
had said. But we never thought him quite the puppet that 
others asserted. We recognized then, as we do now, that the 
power of oratory is not given to everybody, and we were 
quite ready to admit the exaggeration, if not falsity, of other 
assertions. And now that the political passions stirred up at 
that period have long since been stilled, nobody, we think, will 
gainsay the fact that MacMahon had a courtly way, as well as 
a soldierly bearing. It was delightful to see how he handed 
Madame la Mar(^chale either out of a carriage, or, if they were 
walking, across a street. It was like a sudden flash of the 
manners of the old regime, that polished yet easy gallantry of 
long ago, such as was displayed at the Imperial Court by only 
two other men. Count Walewski and Prince Jerome. 

The best trait of MacMahon''s comrade Canrobert was a 
consciousness of his limitations. Brave, dashing, like the old 
Zouave leader he was, always prepared — rrran! — to crush, as 
military governor, either the unarmed Lyonnese or Parisians, 
should they rise against the imperial authority, he shrank with 
good reason from supreme command in the field. No doubts, 
however, disturbed the tranquillity of Marshal Lebceuf, who, 
rising to a supreme position, honestly but foolishly harboured 
the delusion that France, in 1870, was indeed ready for war. 
Forey, the first of the Mexican marshals, figured only a few 
years upon the scene. By treating the Mexicans as brigands, 
and at least conniving at the barbarities perpetrated by Colonel 
Dupin of the Contra-guerilla, he contributed to the fate of 
Maximilian. In 1870, when the Germans refused to recognize 
the French Francs-tireurs as troops, the Berlin press was able 



350 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

to point out that this was by no means an innovation — a 
similar course having been followed by the French themselves 
in Mexico. When Forey was superseded there by Bazaine, he 
returned very regretfully to France, holding that he had been 
badly treated. But a year or two later, when the Mexican 
business collapsed, he was well pleased that he had extricated 
himself from it at an early date. " It was Bazaine's fault if 
the new Empire had not found acceptance among the Mexicans. 
Bazaine was a most incompetent man," said he, forgetting that 
he had previously lauded him to the skies. 

There was, however, truth in his last assertion, Bazaine, 
who, like so many others, had been trained in the Algerian 
school, serving also against Carlist bands in Spain, and com- 
manding the French contingent against Kinburn in 1855, rose 
from the ranks to supreme command by a combination of good 
luck and pushfulness. The gaps in his military knowledge were 
amazing. He was deficient precisely in what made Moltke 
pre-eminent, his acquaintance with the real science of war being 
most limited. It is frequently asserted that an ounce of 
practice is worth a ton of theory. Bazaine was a living proof 
that this aphorism is not always borne out by facts. Bonaparte, 
the greatest captain of the modern era, at least studied at 
Brienne, but where and how did Bazaine study .f* Natural 
aptitude, which Bazaine certainly possessed, requires to be 
reinforced by knowledge, such as he lacked. Yet, until the 
autumn of 1870, he always had his partisans, and circumstances 
served him. While fighting with the Cristinos against the 
Carlists, he had acquired some knowledge of the Spanish 
language, and that largely helped to secure him a command 
in Mexico. Then came his opportunity. We will not say 
that, on succeeding Forey, he might have firmly established 
Maximilian on his throne, but it seems clear that he re- 
peatedly lied in his despatches, and systematically placed his 
own personal interests above those of France. If the contrary 
were true, then all the many private letters emanating from 
officers of the French forces in Mexico, notably those from 
General Abel Douay and Commander Bressonet — letters which 
were so often opened and copied for the Imperial Cabinet at the 
Tuileries — must have been mendacious. In Mexico Bazaine also 



THE MARSHALS OF FRANCE 351 

acquired a reputation for rapacity, but, in that respect, the 
poverty into which he fell during his last years seems to indicate 
that he never amassed any great amount of money. It was at 
Maximilian's Court that he contracted his second marriage. 
His first wife had died under very tragical circumstances, and, 
in the summer of 1865, he espoused a young Mexican lady of 
considerable charm of person, the Senorita Josefa de Pena y 
Azcarate. In conjunction with a devoted aide-de-camp of the 
Marshal, it was she who, after his trial for the surrender of 
Metz, helped him to escape from the He Ste Marguerite. 

Whether Bazaine would have fared at all better than he did 
with the army under his command in 1870, even if, from the 
very outset, he had been allowed a free hand instead of being 
subordinated to the Emperor and the latter''s entourage^ must 
remain doubtful; but, after attending his trial from beffinnino- 
to end, noting the manner of the witnesses as well as their 
evidence, and the prisoner''s own bearing throughout the pro- 
ceedings, it has always seemed to us only too clear that, after 
being shut up in Metz, he listened to the voice of personal 
ambition. It may be taken, we think, that he neglected the 
true . interests of France for those of the imperial cause, 
imagining that he would be able to restore the Empire under 
the young Imperial Prince, whose High Constable and protector 
he would become. He was a Lorrainer by birth, Metz was 
almost his native spot, and, however much he secluded himself 
during those siege-days, he must have ridden more than once 
across the Place Napole'on and along the Esplanade. Statues 
of two great soldiers, Lorrainers like himself, rose upon those 
spots — on the first that of Abraham Fabert, and on the second 
that of Michel Ney, that is, one who never swerved from his 
duty, but died honoured by all men, and one who, though brave 
among the brave, suffered death for having violated his oath. 
But the lesson of those two statues was unheeded by Bazaine ; 
and Metz, known until his time as Metz la Pucelle, nunquam 
'polluta, fell, and was lost to France. 

In the last days of 1866, a great council of the Marshals of 
F'rance, with the Emperor in the chair, assembled at Compiegne, 
where the Court was then staying. Baraguey d"'Hilliers, 
Canrobert, Forey, MacMahon, Niel, Randon, Regnault, and 



^52 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Vaillant were present, the only absentee being Bazaine, then 
in Mexico. Four general officers also attended the gathering, 
these being Frossard, Montauban (Palikao), Trochu, and 
Lebceuf, the last named of whom had not yet secured his 
marshaPs baton. It was at this tardy meeting, after all the 
successes of Prussia, that the re-organization of the French 
army was first debated. A Committee of Reorganization was 
afterwards formed, and General Trochu, whom we have just 
named, was originally a member of it. But his views, which 
went much further than Niers, found little or no support, and 
he was before long excluded de facto from the committee. 
When, therefore, the scheme which it evolved was declared to 
have been unanimously arrived at, Trochu, unwilling to let 
such a statement pass unnoticed, penned his famous pamphlet, 
" L'Armee Frangaise en 1867,"Avhich created so great a sensation 
in every military circle of Europe, and led, in some matters of 
detail, to a modification of the plans which Niel was appointed 
to carry out. 

All those men have now passed away. There are no more 
Marshals of France left — Canrobert was the last survivor. We 
are not quite certain, however, whether any of Mesdames les 
Marechales remain, but early in the eighties there was still 
quite a company of them, including even the relict of one of 
the first Napoleon's marshals, the venerable Duchess d'Albufera, 
who, after wedding Marshal Suchet in 1808, had remained a 
widow ever since 1826. A daughter of Antoine de St. Joseph,' 
mayor of Marseilles, and therefore a close connection by 
marriage of Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, she had received 
from him as a wedding gift the fine mansion adjoining the 
British Embassy in the Faubourg St. Hondre, in which she 
resided' until her death. During the Second Empire the 
Duchess frequently figured at the Tuileries, and the enter- 
tainments at the Hotel dAlbufera were at one time renowned. 
She bore Suchet two children — a son, who married the daughter 
of the famous banker Schickler, and who was long a member of 
the Legislative Body ; and a daughter, who became Countess de 
la Redorte. Other widowed Marechales, who still figured in 
Parisian society a score of years ago, were Mesdames Regnault 
de St. Jean dAngely and Niel, and the Duchess de Malakoft", 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 353 

Then there were Mme. de MacMahon and the Marechale 
Canrobert, whose husbands were still alive ; while in seclusion, 
somewhere in the provinces, Leboeuf and his wife were to be 
found. 

All those high commanders and their ladies figured from 
time to time, not only at the Tuileries, St. Cloud, and the 
camp of Chalons, but at the other places whither the Emperor 
transported himself. The annual stay at Fontainebleau some- 
times preceded and sometimes followed the imperial visit to 
Chalons. In various respects the Court's life at Fontainebleau 
resembled that which it led at Compiegne later in the year, but 
the gatherings, which generally coincided with the Fontaine- 
bleau race meetings, were perhaps rather more " fussy " (if we 
may be again allowed a vulgarism), and whereas at Compiegne, 
apart from costumes de chasse, only the furs and cloaks and 
sombre gowns of winter were to be observed out-of-doors, at 
Fontainebleau the scene was bright with all the hues of dainty 
summer toilettes. Unfortunately, the gentlemen were pursued 
by the etiquette of the time, and in that connection we recall 
a delightful picture. Imagine the lake near the "English 
garden" covered with sailing-boats, rowing-boats, punts, and 
canoes, in most of which sit ladies in leghorn hats and 
crinolines, while the gentlemen who are rowing, punting, 
paddling, or hoisting sails, invariably wear the solemn orthodox 
frockcoats and silk hats of the Boulevard des Italiens. The 
idea of such a thing nowadays seems " too preposterous ; but, 
then, did not Marshal Magnan, soon after he was appointed 
" Great Huntsman,"" go shooting at Compiegne in similar 
attire, with the addition of a white neck-cloth ? And does 
none of our readers remember the lithographs of the late 
forties in which English tourists were depicted climbing Mount 
Vesuvius in frockcoats and " chimney-pots " ? Not so many 
years ago, after the disruption of an Alpine glacier, an old 
English beaver hat, such as must have once figured in the Park 
and about St. James''s, was accidentally discovered by some 
Savoyard mountaineers. If such headgear might be worn amid 
the avalanches of the Alps and around the crater of Vesuvius, 
it is not surprising that it should have been thought " correct " 
when you were paddling your own canoe — or, rather, one 

til A 



354 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

belonging to the Emperor — on that lake at Fontainebleau. 
The sight may have been scarcely pleasing to the tri-centenarian 
carp in the water, but they cannot have wondered at it, for 
they were biases^ having witnessed so many vagaries of fashion 
since their youthful days under the first Francis ! 

We need give no account of the palace of Fontainebleau. 
If we wrote at some length about the chateau of St. Cloud, it 
was because it exists no more, whereas Fontainebleau, happily, 
may still be seen and admired. Besides having many associa- 
tions with monarchical times, it recalled to the Imperialists of 
the Second Empire the downfall of the First, for it had witnessed 
Napoleon's memorable abdication, and his pathetic farewell to 
the Old Guard in 1814. In the time of Louis Philippe, who 
did much to restore the palace, a framed facsimile of that deed 
of abdication had been hung in the room where the original 
was drawn up, but it was removed soon after the re-establish- 
ment of the imperial regime, as Napoleon III. did not wish 
visitors to be reminded too pointedly that Napoleon I. had 
*' renounced for himself and his successors the throne of 
France."" The chief work accomplished by the Second Empire 
at Fontainebleau was the restoration of the gallery of Francis I. 
and the building of a new playhouse. 

From "the palace in the forest" the Court betook itself 
to the shores of the Bay of Biscay. The Empress had been 
acquainted with Biarritz before her marriage, and the Emperor 
accompanied her thither early in the reign. They first resided 
at a villa erected by a Prefect of Bayonne, but in 1854 a large 
tract of land, half reclaimed from the sea, was purchased for 
the bagatelle of £1% and in the following year the building of 
the Villa Eugenie was begun on a barren, unsheltered, terraced 
slope, beaten at high tide by the waves, whose spray, when the 
wind was strong, often lashed the windows. There was, how- 
ever, a superb view of the sea breaking over the many huge 
rocks arising in the bay ; and although at first a tangle of 
juniper bushes and a few dwarf trees were the only vegetation 
in the grounds, the latter were soon improved, thanks to proper 
manuring and irrigation by means of an artificial lake and a 
system of runlets. The " villa " itself was originally small, 
and intense was the dismay of the Empress"'s ladies-in-waiting 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 355 

the first time the}' saw their appointed quarters. " Mais, rnon 
Dieu!'''' exclaimed the gay and brilliant Mme. de La Bedoyere, 
whose arrival in a room was often likened by the Tuileries set 
to the lighting of a chandelier ; " mais, mon Dieu, this is not as 
large as a cell in the convent where we were brought up ! "" " No, 
indeed," protested her sister, the slim and willowy Mme. de La 
Poeze,* " we shall never be able to squeeze into such cabanons! " 
The consternation of the ladies' maids found even more vigorous 
expression. The joke of the situation was that this particular 
part of the villa had been specially designed by the Emperor, 
who had imagined that a room ten feet square, and furnished 
with a small iron bedstead, two chairs, and a dressing-table, 
would amply suffice for a lady-in-waiting. 

The Duchess de Bassano, as chief of the ladies in question, 
was naturally bombarded with complaints, and bethinking her- 
self of some means by which the grievance might be ventilated 
without giving undue offence, she drew up a petition in verse — 
the petition of all the crinolines, tournitres, and bustles, which 
finding themselves cribbed, cabined, and confined in so many 
hermits' cells at the Villa Eugenie, were fast losing all the 
vigour and elasticity with which they had fascinated the 
Parisians. And this petition was confided to the tiny hands 
of the Imperial Prince, and delivered by him to his papa. 
Napoleon took it, read it, laughed, twirled his moustaches, and 
became thoughtful. For the time nothing more was said on 
the subject, but directly the Court quitted Biarritz that year, 
a small army of men set to work to enlarge the Villa Eugenie. 
St. Crinoline had won the day. 

The villa was again enlarged on two other occasions, and it 
at last assumed the proportions and appearance of a college or 
a barracks. Meantime Biarritz itself was growing fast. A 
place of some importance in olden days, it had gradually sunk to 
the status of a mere fisher's hamlet, but the imperial patronage 
brought it a renewal of life. Its resident population rapidly 

* Those attractive ladies, the daughters of the Marquis de La Eoche 
Lambert, at one time a Gentleman of the Chamber to Charles X., and later 
Ambassador at Berlin, and a Senator of the Second Empire, have been referred 
to on p. 72. They had a sister, the Countess de Valon, who alone upheld the 
royalist traditions of her family and never came to Court. 



356 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

increased ; it had its large hotels, its restaurants, cafes, casino, 
and theatre. The earlier scarcity of vegetation was consider- 
ably remedied, the streets being lined with sycamores, and a 
miniature Bois de Boulogne being planted in the vicinity, where 
many handsome residences, such as the so-called chateau de 
Gramont and Lord Ernest Bruce's mauresque villa, also sprang 
up. Further, there was a new church, which the municipality, 
in a courtier-like spirit, caused to be dedicated to St. Eugenia 
— a proceeding that shocked a good many of the devout, as the 
church the new one replaced had been dedicated to Our Lady 
of Pity. It was not right, said some, that St. Eugenia should 
turn the Virgin out-of-doors. With the prosperity of Biarritz 
much of its picturesqueness departed. Gracieuse, the pretty 
Basquaise with her mule and her cacolet, was seen no more ; 
Marinette, who, short-skirted and bare-legged, had raced from 
Bayonne with her basket of fresh sardines on her head, also 
belonged to the past. You no longer rode a donkey but a 
hack, on your excursions. The popular dances were no longer 
seen, the wild music of the Basque mountain-side was no longer 
heard. The waltz reigned at the casino, and a military band 
played tunes from " Chilperic " or " Orphee aux enfers " on the 
sands. 

Affairs of State pursued the Emperor to Biarritz as they 
pursued him to other places. Such is the result of personal 
rule. There were always two or three ministers at the Villa 
Eugenie, as well as one or another foreign ambassador. Baron 
Goltz, the Prussian representative, became quite enamoured of 
Biarritz, and repaired thither every year. In 1865, too, 
Bismarck's memorable conferences with Napoleon took place 
there, as we previously mentioned. There were also many 
visits from crowned heads and other royalties, for whose enter- 
tainment elaborate excursions and picnics in the picturesque 
environs — Ustaritz, Cambo, the Pas de Roland, or more distant 
spots — were organized with the help of the imperial posting 
service. Occasionally, too, the Emperor and Empress witnessed 
some bull-fighting at Bayonne. The Emperor, who was so 
susceptible to cold, seldom bathed, but the Empress (a good 
swimmer) did so regularly, and there were frequent trips at sea 
—a despatch-boat being stationed in the old harbour — until, 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 857 

a serious mishap on the water in October, 1867, alarmed the 
Emperor for the safety of his wife and son. 

They had embarked in the despatch-boat, accompanied by 
the Demoiselles d'Albe, Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, two 
ladies-in-waiting (one of them Mme. Carette), Dr. Corvisart, 
and Monsignor Bauer — a prelate of the Papal Household, who 
ended badly. The weather was fine at first, but after the 
steamer had gone as far as San Sebastian, the breeze freshened 
to half a gale, and the sea became so rough that the captain 
declared it impossible to put back into Biarritz, particularly as 
night was fast falling. The vessel, therefore, made for St. Jean 
de Luz, where it became necessary to land the imperial party in 
its boats. The fisher-folk, who had recognized it, hurried to 
the jetty with torches and lanterns, in order to light the 
channel, and one boat soon brought some of the party to 
shore. But the other, containing the Empress, the little 
Prince, the admiral, the doctor, and the priest, struck a rock 
and began to fill rapidly. The pilot in charge, losing his head, 
jumped into the water, fell back against the rock, and was 
stunned and drowned ; but the others succeeded in getting on 
the rock, the Empress carrying her son, at that time eleven 
years old, in her arms. One of the bluejackets then offered to 
swim ashore to procure help, but the tide was fast running out, 
and once the man was in the water he found that he touched 
bottom. It therefore became possible for the crew to form a 
kind of chain and pass the passengers ashore — that is to say, all 
were carried in that fashion except Monsignor Bauer, who had 
to wade through the water, the sailors refusing him their assist- 
ance, as they held him responsible for what had happened; it 
being an axiom among them that a priest always brought bad 
luck on a sea trip. On the return of the party to Biarritz by 
road, the Emperor was found to be in a state of great alarm. 
Owing to this mishap, and the undoubtedly dangerous nature 
of the coast, he forbade all such excursions in future, while, for 
the protection of others, he ordered the erection of a lighthouse 
on the- mole of St. Jean de Luz. 

From Biarritz the Court usually returned to St. Cloud, and 
remained there until the period of its annual stay at Compiegne, 
where it was generally installed by November 3, that being the 



358 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

day consecrated to St. Hubert, the patron of the chase. We 
have now to speak of the Imperial Venery, otherwise the 
hunting and shooting service, which dated from April, 1852.* 
Since Charles X. there had been no such service, and the work 
of organization was attended by various difficulties. Edgar 
Ney, to whom it was entrusted, was assisted by his relative, the 
jovial bon-vivant Baron Lambert, Lieutenant of the Hunt, and 
the Marquis de Toulongeon, a member of the house of Gramont 
and at one period Napoleon"'s orderly-officer, who became 
Captain of the Shooting-Grounds. Fortunately the Marquis 
de I'Aigle, the head of an old family of sportsmen residing at 
the chateau of Francport, between the forests of Compiegne 
and Laigue, offered Napoleon a pack of thirty hounds and two 
hunters, and in return for this gift (which formed the nucleus 
of the imperial equipage) he secured boar-hunting rights in the 
forests mentioned.! 

The post of chief huntsman was given to M. Reverdy, 
called " La Trace," who had entered the first Napoleon's service 
in 1803 as a kennelman, and, rising in rank, had succeeded 
Dutillet, called " Mousquetaire," as chief huntsman to Charles X. 
It was to Reverdy that fell most of the preliminary work in 
1852, but he was assisted by the Marquis de TAigle's huntsman, 
who entered the Emperor's service. Born in 1785, and the son 
of an official of Louis XVL's hunt, Reverdy was a depository 
of all the old traditions of the chase, one schooled in the 
mariners of other times. Nothing could have been more 
dixhuitievie niecle than the manner in which he approached 
Ney, with his whip at the correct angle in his right hand, and 
his three-cornered hat in his left, and exclaimed while bowing, 
" Le hon plaisir de Monsieur le Comte.'''' He had a high opinion 
of his office, and quickly resented anything in the way of 
impertinence. One day at Compiegne a foolish young officer 
called him a valet. " A valet ! So be it, monsieur," answered 
La Trace, " but please do not forget that I am the valet of 
your master." He was also a very honest and well-conducted 
man, and organized the imperial service skilfully, this being the 
less easy as many of the men who were engaged came from 

* Napoleon was, of course, only President at that time. 

f The Imperial Hunt confined itself to stag or buck hunting. 



THE IMPERIAL HUNT 359 

different hunts with varying traditions or else with none at all. 
Among the assistant huntsmen, however, there was Leroux, 
who had entered the first Napoleon's Hunt in 1812, afterwards 
passing into the royal service. It was he who succeeded 
Reverdy when the latter retired. There was also Camus, the 
first mounted limer-man, who had done duty in the Hunts of 
the First Empire and the monarchy ; while another of the staff, 
Landouillet, the most proficient of all on the horn, had 
graduated in the famous Chantilly Hunt of the last Prince de 
Conde. Leemans, who quitted the Marquis de FAigle's service 
for the Emperor's as whipper-in, was well acquainted with the 
English language, and accompanied Baron Lambert to England 
and Ireland every year to purchase hounds and horses. Lee- 
mans succeeded Reverdy and Leroux in the chief post, which he 
held in 1870, and thus it was to him that fell the melancholy 
duty of poisoning the hounds, it being impossible to keep them 
or sell them in the midst of war. 

Leaving the service dlionneur on one side, the staff of 
the Hunt under chief huntsman Reverdy and his successors 
included two huntsmen, one mounted valet-de-limier, two on 
foot, three mounted whippers-in, four on foot, and a baker, who 
made the dogs' bread and prepared their soupe. There was 
also the stable department with three piqueurs, a coachman, a 
farrier, an 'hifirmier, and a score of men and lads. The chief 
huntsman, and the head stable piqueur received £120 a year, 
the huntsmen £8 a month, and the whippers-in, the valets, 
kennelmen, and stablemen from £4 to £6 a month. They all 
had free quarters, firing, etc., received double pay every month 
of January, and perquisites representing from £4 to £12, 
whenever St. Hubert's Day came round. The Hunt cost the 
Civil List about £22,000 annually. 

Attached to the service dlionneur was a medical man. Dr. 
Aubin des Fougerais, who, curiously enough, was also doctor 
to the Opera-house in Paris, in such wise that he divided his 
time between the men of the greenwood and the ladies of the 
ballet. M. des Fougerais was a good judge of horses, and rode 
extremely well until his leg was broken by a kick from a vicious 
animal at Compiegne. From that time he was obliged to 
follow the chase in a conveyance. The Hunt also had its 



860 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

painter, Jadin, famous for his portraits of dogs; he wore the 
uniform of the Hunt, which he often joined. 

The stables contained from fifty to sixty horses, each officer 
of the Hunt and each huntsman having three, and the doctor 
and each valet two at his disposal. The horses were always 
bought in Ireland by Baron Lambert, who paid about d^lOO for 
every animal intended for an officer of the Hunt, and from c£'50 
to £60 for the others. The staff were instructed to take great 
care of their mounts. Baron Lambert was too good natured to 
treat anybody with deliberate harshness, but he lost his temper 
if a man of the staff returned from the chase with his horse 
broken down. There were usually about 120 hounds, inclusive 
of 30 limers, in the kennels. They were big English foxhounds, 
white, with the correct black and fulvous colourings, and, as 
in the old days of French royalty, each was marked with St. 
Hubert's cross. Their food was invariably pounded-barley 
bread, except on hunting days, when, after partaking of the 
curee, they were treated, on returning to the kennels, to soicpe 
with beef or horseflesh. They were all intelligent dogs, came 
out of the pack in answer to their names, proved themselves 
well acquainted with the forests and adept in finding their way 
home. On one occasion, when a hound had been lost in the 
forest of Fontainebleau, he arrived three days later at the 
kennels at Compiegne, having made a journey of some forty 
leagues. While M. Leemans was chief huntsman, he looked after 
the dogs and horses so well that the Society for the Protection 
of Animals awarded him its medal. 

Green was the predominant colour of the uniform and the 
liveries of the Hunt. The former had a collar and cuffs of 
crimson velvet, and silver buttons bearing gold stags. There 
was also no little silver embroidery and braid. Further, three- 
cornered hats were worn, those of the Emperor and Empress 
having their brims edged with white plumes. The various 
officers carried long hunting-knives. The Empress's habit 
was of green cloth with trimmings of crimson velvet, gallooned 
and embroidered with gold. In accordance with the custom of 
former reigns, whenever the Emperor granted anybody the 
right to follow the Hunt and wear its uniform, he sent the 
favoured individual the necessary buttons for the costume. 



THE IMPERIAL HUNT 361 

whence it resulted that members of the company were often 
called "the Buttons." The Emperor's aides-de-camp and 
orderhes belonged to the Hunt by right, and any civilian 
officers of the Household who applied for the buttons usually 
obtained them. The Great Chamberlain, the Duke de Bassano, 
and the Great Master of Ceremonies, the Duke de Cambaceres, 
wore the uniform, as did also Prince Napoleon, Prince Murat, 
several foreign princes and diplomatists, such as Lord Cowley, 
Prince Metternich, and Baron Budberg. Marshal de Castellane's 
daughter, the sprightly and witty Marquise de Contades, who, 
by her second marriage with a captain of the Artillery of the 
Guard, became Countess de Beaulaincourt-Marles, and who, in 
conjunction with Princess Mathilde, had kept house for Napoleon 
during his presidency days at the Elysee Palace, was, like that 
skilful horsewoman the Baroness de Pierres, one of the few 
ladies to whom the privilege of wearing the uniform was 
accorded. Among well-known men who enjoyed it were the 
Dukes de Morny, Persigny, Caumont-Laforce, and Vicence, the 
Marquis de L'Aigle, Marshal MacMahon, Count Nieuwerkerke, 
the Aguados, Achille Fould, Baron Henri de Poilly, MM. 
d'Offemont, de Montgermont, and Edouard Delessert. The 
liveries of the huntsmen, whippers-in, and kennelmen of the 
Venery partook of the character of the uniform, but the 
embroidery was somewhat less rich, and white metal buttons, 
in some instances, took the place of the silver ones. The 
costumes, which were in most respects of an eighteenth-century 
style, suggestive of the garb of Captain MacHeath and Claude 
Duval, encountered no little criticism and ridicule in many 
quarters, but they were undoubtedly picturesque, and not 
much more absurd or extraordinary, perhaps, than the English 
" pink." 

At three o'clock on the morning of November 3, St. Hubert's 
Day, when the Hunt was usually quartered at Corapiegne, a 
fanfare sounded in honour of the saint, and the officers and 
men, mustering in full costume, repaired to the old church of 
St. Jacques, where a low mass was celebrated, the consecrated 
bread being offered by the kennelmen. Immediately afterwards, 
the forest was tried, and when the best hound in the pack had 
been singled out at the ensuing meet, a lady was requested to 



362 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

affix to its neck a green silk cockade, the ribbons of which the men 
shared on their return in the evening, employing them through- 
out the ensuing year to secure the mouthpieces of their horns. 
On the same day the huntsmen and whippers-in presented the 
Emperor with a consecrated brioche, and the Empress with a 
bouquet. 

The Hunt moved about during the year, being quartered 
now at Compiegne, now at Fontainebleau, now at St. Germain- 
en-Laye, or elsewhere. There was no hunting in July or August, 
but in other months a meet usually took place every five or six 
days. On an average, at some forty runs, about thirty-three 
stags were taken, the others escaping. The proportion was 
much the same as in the time of Charles X., when forty-seven 
stags were credited to sixty hunts. Napoleon was no disciple 
of the old hunting school. If he were partial to the chase, it 
was chiefly for the sake of the exercise it gave. He believed 
in speed ; he had enjoyed many a fox-hunting run in England, 
and the comparatively slow and elaborate system of stag-hunting 
which had been formerly practised in France by its princes and 
its nobility did not appeal to him. Besides, he could not give 
days and weeks together to the chase as the Bourbons had 
done. Nevertheless, the stag-hunting of the Second Empire 
was not a mere gallop through the forest glades amid much 
tooting of horns, as some writers, who never witnessed it, have 
foolishly asserted. There was no question of pursuing " carted 
deer," but of following wild and vigorous bucks, sometimes 
ten-tined stags, who, when brought to bay, often proved 
dangerous. At those times the Emperor frequently showed no 
little audacity. To the Empress*'s alarm, he more than once 
" served " some monarch of the forest with his hunting-knife, 
and even when he employed a carbine for the purpose, he 
ventured so near to the infuriated animal that he incurred 
considerable risk.* On one occasion he only escaped injury 
by throwing himself flat on the ground in such wise that the 
stag jumped over him. There were many bad accidents at 

* The young Prince Imperial's first hunt was in 1865, On seeing a carbine 
employed to despatch the stag, he remarked, " Oh 1 why is that used? When 
I'm big enough I shall use my knife. That's what the kings used to do. I'm 
not afraid of a stag." 



THE IMPERIAL HUNT 363 

Fontainebleau and Compiegne. One day, when Baron Lambert 
was about to despatch a stag, the beast charged him, threw 
him down, dislocated one of his shoulders, and pierced his arm 
with a tine. On another occasion, at a hallali at Compiegne, 
when it fell to the Prince de la Moskowa to kill the stag, the 
latter charged M. de la Rue, one of the head forest-keepers, 
threw him off his horse, killed that animal by ripping it open, 
and then turned upon Achille Fould, pierced one of his boots 
with a prod of its antlers, and next dashed upon the mount of 
the charming Mme. Araedee Thayer, whose horse reared in 
alarm. Unluckily, one of Mme. Thayer's feet became caught 
in a wheel of Princess Mathilde's carriage, which had just come 
up, and in the result the foot was broken, and the unfortunate 
lady, lamed for life, had to be conveyed to the chateau of 
Compiegne on a litter, and thence, by special train, to Paris. 

Those are examples of the incidents which occurred from 
time to time. We also remember witnessing the mishap which 
late in 1869 befell the Prince of Wales (now Edward VII.), 
who was unhorsed by a big buck in the forest of Compiegne, 
though fortunately with no worse result than a shaking, the 
Prince speedily jumping on to a spare mount, led for him by an 
officer of the Hunt, and at once resuming the chase amid the 
applause of the entire company. With the conditions of buck- 
hunting in England, and the reasons of the opposition offered to 
it of recent years, we do not profess to be acquainted. But in 
France the sport was genuine enough, the wild red deer of 
Compiegne and Fontainebleau being by no means the meek, 
mild, inoffensive creatures that some might suppose. The 
hounds were often injured, but received prompt treatment, each 
man of the Hunt being provided with a case containing lances, 
needles, thread, and ammonia. After a month's rest an injured 
hound would readily hunt again, but he was never afterwards 
quite so brave at the hallali as he had been before. 

One of the great sights at Compiegne a,nd Fontainebleau 
was the curee in the evening after a run. The Emperor, the 
Empress, and the guests were assembled on the balconies or at 
the windows overlooking the courtyard selected for the occasion. 
Blazing cressets fixed to long staves, carried by soldiers or 
servants, illumined the scene, which, if not refined, was certainly 



364 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

most interesting, for it showed how well the hounds could be 
trained and controlled. At first the skin, entrails, head, and 
antlers of the stag caught that day, were brought into the yard 
and carried to one end of it. The dogs, though sorely tantalized 
by the sight, remained perfectly quiet under the control of the 
kennelmen at the other end of the yard, until the royale began 
to sound. Then they yelped with ever increasing impatience ; 
and all at once, as the notes of the curee came from the horns 
of the assembled piqueurs and valets, and the chief huntsman, 
who stood behind the remains of the stag, lowered his 
whip, they bounded forward in eager unison. But when 
they were within six feet of their prey they saw the huntsman's 
whip raised again, and they immediately halted — turning back, 
moreover, directly the kennelmen bade them do so. Three 
times was that performance enacted, and though the hounds 
quivered and howled with excitement, they ever obeyed the 
mute command of the huntsman's whip. It was only at their 
third charge that the whip remained lowered, and that the 
stag's skin and antlers were deftly thrown aside, disclosing the 
other remains, on which the dogs at last threw themselves with 
wild, ravenous appetite and zest. Nobody could witness the 
sight without experiencing a thrill. 

There was also some boar-hunting at Compiegne and in its 
vicinity with the Marquis de FAigle's hounds or those of Baron 
Henri de Poilly of Follembray, whose hunt wore the English 
" pink." The forest of Ourscamp was in those days as full of 
boars as the Ardennes, where, however, it is the practice for one 
to shoot the boar on foot — a fine sport, attended by some risk, 
to which Prince Pierre Bonaparte was partial. We remember, 
too, that on the occasion of the visit of several Spanish noble- 
men to the French Court there was boar-hunting at Marly in 
the Andalusian style. The Emperor also favoured the attempts 
to reintroduce hawking into France, which were made by Count 
Alfred Werle (of the Maison Veuve Cliquot), with the assistance 
of an English falconer, John Barr, who had previously been in 
the employment of the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh in Suffolk. 
Count Werle obtained the Emperor's permission to fly his hawks 
over some of the camp of Chalons land, but the sport was 
stopped by the advent of the Franco-German war. 



THE IMPERIAL HUNT 365 

There were four tires or shooting-grounds at Compiegne, 
and others at Versailles and Marly — abundant in hares — • 
Fontainebleau, St. Germain — good in pheasants — and Ram- 
bouillet — noted for partridges. Great efforts were made to 
acclimatize the Algerian " Garnbra " partridge at Compiegne. 
In 1859 forty thousand eggs were imported, and the greater 
number of them were successfully hatched ; but the young birds 
died off very rapidly, and there were eventually not more than 
two thousand to turn into the tii'Ss. Even those disappeared in 
a mysterious Avay, and the phenomenon was not accounted for 
until Geoffroy de St. Plilaire, the director of the Paris Jardin 
d'Acclimatation, discovered that the Barbary birds mated with 
the European species, producing a cross-breed. 

The hattue shooting of the Imperial Court was on the whole 
very fair, when one remembers that the forests had to be re- 
stocked with game of various kinds, and that little time was 
allowed it to increase. There was room for nine guns at each 
tire. With the help of Baron de Lage — a clever and amiable 
man, who was unfortunately somewhat of a coxcomb, and, 
according to one of his colleagues, killed himself by his im- 
moderate use of a poisonous hair-dye — M. de Toulongeon, the 
Captain of the Shooting Grounds, set up pheasantries at 
Compiegne, Fontainebleau, and Rambouillet, which yielded 
about 4000 birds annually, some 600 partridges being reared 
at the same time. Each shooting-ground was about six miles 
long and rather more than two hundred yards broad. All 
the wood on the ground was cut to a height of about four feet, 
in order that the sportsmen might have a good view of the 
game, and also see each other. The shooting parties assembled 
about ten o'clock in the morning. The Emperor's customary 
attire was a dull brown knickerbocker-suit and a soft felt hat, in 
which he wore a feather, sometimes a pheasanfs, sometimes a 
jay's. He was attended by Baron de Lage, Gastine-Reinette, 
his gunsmith, two men who loaded his weapons, the doctor of 
the Hunt, and a forest-keeper in charge of his retriever, a well- 
trained dog, who only fetched the game which his master shot, 
remaining perfectly indifferent to anything that was brought 
down by other sportsmen. The beaters were soldiers of the 
garrison, generally about a hundred and fifty in number, and 



366 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

provided with staves and clappers. Each man received for 
his services a franc and a rabbit at the close of the day's 
shooting. 

Napoleon was a very good shot, very fond of trying distant 
shots, and generally succeeding in them ; but he was excelled by 
that born sportsman the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. 
In 1867, when the pair shot together at St. Germain, the 
number of head of game credited to the latter was 419, while 
the French Emperor's score was 265. Later, at Compiegne, 
Francis Joseph's score rose to 600, Napoleon's being 200 less. 
On the other hand, Victor Emmanuel and his son. Prince 
Humbert, who also shot over the Compiegne ground, were 
on about a level with their host, while one of the most 
indifferent shots among the royalties who visited the French 
Court was William of Prussia, subsequently first German 
Emperor. Among the diplomatists, Lord Cowley was par- 
ticularly expert; he seldom, if ever, missed a bird. Prince 
Metternich also shot well, and so did Chevalier Nigra. The 
last named was fond of various kinds of sport, and had a water- 
spaniel which caught fish like a cormorant. Thereby hangs a 
rather amusing tale. 

One day, a conversation which Prince Napoleon had with 
Nio-ra respecting the dog in question led to the mention of 
cormorants and their fishing habits. The Prince stored up the 
information which he thus acquired, and some time afterwards, 
being with his father-in-law King Victor Emmanuel in Italy, 
he conveyed it to him, making, however, a very amusing blunder, 
for he had forgotten the name of the bird mentioned by Nigra, 
and imagined it to be the pelican. When Victor Emmanuel 
heard that pelicans could be trained to bring the fish they 
caught to their masters, he was rather incredulous ; nevertheless, 
as the information was said to have come from Nigra, he thought 
he would test its accuracy. He had some pelicans at his strange 
menagerie at Monza, and at once gave orders to one of the 
keepers there to train those birds with the object we have 
mentioned. The attempt was made. There was some orna- 
mental water, stocked with fish, and for days and weeks together 
the keeper walked round and round this water, carrying one or 
another pelican on his arm, and vainly striving to persuade the; 



THE IMPERIAL HUNT 367 

bird to dive, fish, and bring back its catch. But whenever a 
pelican took to the water and caught a fish, it promptly con- 
cealed it in its pouch, and was in nowise disposed to disgorge 
it to please the keeper. The latter at last sent word to the 
King that the experiment had failed. "Nonsense," was the 
reply ; " you evidently don^t understand pelicans. Nigra says 
they will bring their master their catch, and he ought to know. 
Let another man try." 

Another man did, and marched round the water like his 
predecessor, ever carrying a pelican on his arm, with precisely 
the same result. Briefly, each keeper exerted himself in vain, 
merely gaining a severe arm-ache by his endeavours — a pelican 
being quite six times as heavy as a cormorant — and living in 
the constant fear that his failure would entail dismissal. Fortu- 
nately, Chevalier Nigra arrived in Italy on leave, and on Victor 
Emmanuel speaking to him about the recalcitrant pelicans, the 
mystery was cleared up. " Never speak to me on any hunting, 
shooting, or fishing subject again," said Victor Emmanuel to 
Prince Napoleon, after discovering how he had been fooled ; 
" you know nothing about such matters." In point of fact, the 
Prince was certainly a very indifferent sportsman. His hunting 
at Meudon was mere exercise ; while in shooting, whether at 
Compiegne or on his own ground at Villefermoy, he never 
bagged more than one out of every three head of game at which 
he fired. 

M. Magne, long Minister of Finances, was such a bad shot 
that the keepers attending him at Compiegne took rabbits 
with them, knocked one of them on the head directly he fired, 
and then produced it with the assurance that it had been 
killed by " Monsieur le Ministre." That reminds us that the 
keepers of Charles X., who was also inclined to be a poor shot, 
resorted to similar tactics, carrying, however, quails instead 
of rabbits. With respect to the nominal " Great Huntsman " 
of the Second Empire, Marshal Magnan, he could not tell a 
buck from a roe ; while Rouher, the Vice-Emperor, peppered 
keepers in the legs, and on one occasion shot Baron James de 
Rothschild's pointer dead. As for M. Rouland, sometime 
Minister of Justice, he one day mistook a badger for a wild 
boar, shouting wildly to the keepers, directly he perceived the 



368 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

beast : " Quick ! quick ! a boar ! a boar ! " Luckily, he was 
too much alarmed to fire, for it so happened that the badger 
was a tame one, which rejoiced in the name of Pablo, came to 
you when it was called, and took food from your hand. The 
next day some boar''s-head was served at lunch at the chateau 
of Compiegne, and the Empress Eugenie inquired of Rouland 
with a smile if he would accept a slice of Jiure de sanglier a la 
Pahlo. 

Now and again the Empress joined a shooting party, and, 
like Mme. de Metternich, she was fairly expert with her gun. 
She very properly put down rabbit'Coursing on the lawn of the 
private grounds at Compiegne, where, by the way, the forest 
was thickly populated with rabbits. The Emperor ended by 
commanding a general massacre of them, in order to meet the 
complaints of the surrounding agriculturists, who were not 
satisfied with the amounts paid to them for damage. The dis- 
bursements in that respect were, on the whole, considerable. 
Around Fontainebleau £\b()0 was paid annually for the depre- 
dations, not of small ground game, but of beasts of the chase. 
According to M. de la Rue, an Inspector of Forests under the 
Empire, from 55,000 to 60,000 shots were fired each year at the 
Emperor's sixteen shooting parties — there being about nine guns 
at each — and the total "bag" was 25,000 head of game, 
including 16,000 rabbits, 8000 pheasants, and 320 deer. 

The Court's arrival at Compiegne early in November was 
immediately followed by that of the first series of guests invited 
to the chateau. There were usually four successive series, each 
being composed of about seventy persons, who were invited for 
a week ; but some people, like the Metternichs, for instance, 
stayed a fortnight or even longer. Apart from an army of 
servants, the suite of the sovereigns included twenty-four officers 
and ladies, in such wise that the company was altogether a 
hundred strong. Each series of guests travelled to and fro by 
special trains which cost the Emperor about <£'40 ; while the 
wood firing in the hundreds of rooms of the chateau represented 
about the same amount every day.* Each guest had a dressing- 
room as well as a bedchamber, and to the more important 

* It was largely the Emperor's extreme susceptibility to cold -which led to 
the enormous consumption of fuel at the Tuileries, Compiegne, and elsewhere. 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 369 

invites a private sitting-room was also assigned. The hangings 
and upholstery were mostly grey, the furniture was good old 
mahogany, the toilet sets were of white Sevres with the imperial 
monogram in gold. Writing-tables and writing materials were 
provided on a lavish scale. There was due accommodation for 
valets and ladies' maids, and at least one of the imperial servants 
was at your beck and call. 

Almost as soon as you reached the chateau on a Monday 
afternoon, a lacquey appeared bringing a large tray with tea 
and sandwiches, as well as wine and liqueurs for your private 
consumption during your stay. In the morning, whatever you 
might desire for your first dejeuner was served in your own 
apartment ; tea, coffee, or chocolate being supplied according to 
taste. The guest's morning virtually belonged to him, unless 
he were one of the exalted set privileged to go shooting with 
the Emperor. As at Fontainebleau, frockcoats and silk hats 
were the ordinary wear in the daytime. The second dejeuner 
or lunch was served at noon, the guests assembling on either 
side of the Galerie des Cartes — so called from its large maps or 
plans of the forest of Compiegne — where they awaited the 
coming of the Emperor and Empress. In the afternoon, if 
there was no hunting (there was usually a meet once a week), 
there were excursions to Pierrefonds or other places, drives 
through the forest, pigeon-shooting, or various games of dexterity 
in the grounds of the chateau. Between four and five o'clock 
you returned to your room, >vhere tea was served to you, unless, 
as occasionally happened, you received an invitation to partake 
of it in the Empress's private apartments. The The de 
rimperatrice was generally a very pleasant moment of the day, 
when the literary men, artists, and other " intellectuals " of the 
company appeared at their best. 

Dinner was served at about half-past seven, the whole 
company again assembling in the Galerie des Cartes and goino- 
processionally through the guard-chamber to the great dining- 
room, which, with its blaze of lights, presented a striking scene, 
the table being adorned by a superb silver surtout of finely 
chiselled hunting subjects and a profusion of other plate, as well 
as porcelain and crystal. There were usually a hundred covers. 
The band of the Imperial Guard played in an adjoining room. 

2 B 



370 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Dinner over, coffee was taken in the Galerie des Cartes, smokers 
turned into the apartment reserved to them, and the other 
guests betook themselves to the drawing-rooms. A variety of 
evening amusements was provided — bilKards, table-quoits (to 
which Napoleon was partial), private theatricals on the little 
drawing-room stage, or performances by one or another of the 
Paris professional companies in the playhouse of the chateau.. 
Again, there were simple parlour games — "consequences," 
" forfeits," " spelling bees," and once or twice, en petit comite, 
half an hour's merriment at blind-man's buff. Further, there 
was dancing, on some occasions a mere improvised sauterie, on 
others something more elaborate, ending in the customary 
cotillon ; and now and again Leverrier, the astronomer, would 
lecture on his particular science and the plurality of worlds, or 
Wurtz would discourse on chemistry, Longuet on the circulation 
of the blood, and Pasteur on the diseases of wines or physiology 
or medicine. That reminds us of a story. 

On one occasion, after Pasteur had made various experiments 
with frogs before the company, he took back to his own room 
the box in which some of the animals were left, and forgot to 
remove it when he quitted the chateau. The apartment was then 
assigned to a lady guest, who, on the very first night of her 
stay, was aroused by strange sounds proceeding from under the 
bed. In her alarm she summoned her maid, and bade her 
ascertain what was concealed there. The maid, as terrified as 
her mistress, fearing, indeed, lest she would find the proverbial 
man under the bed, at first hesitated to obey the order, but 
when she had done so she drew breath, exclaiming, "There's 
nothing, madame, nothing at all excepting a little box. Here 
it is." So speaking, she took up the box to let her mistress see 
it, and at the same moment raised the lid, whereupon a dozen 
frogs from the Compiegne ponds jumped on to the bed amidst 
the horrified shrieks of both women. There was a great to-do, 
many people were aroused from their sleep, and though the 
hour was late, another room had to be immediately found for 
the lady, who vowed that she would not remain in that chamber 
of horrors a moment longer ! 

Among the literary names which we recall as having figured 
in the lists of invites to Compiegne were those of Merimee, 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 371 

Feuillet, Sandeau, Nisard, About, Gautier, St. Amand, Doucet, 
and Sylvestre de Sacy. The representatives of art included 
Theodore Rousseau, Moreau, Gustave Boulanger, Eugene Lami, 
Paul Baudry, Robert Fleury, and Viollet-le-Due, who staged 
the private theatricals. To the same set belonged Couture, 
who, when the Empress inquired if he were comfortable in the 
room assigned to him, sweetly replied : " Oh yes ; it reminds 
me of the garret in which I began my career ; " and Carpeaux, 
who, in 1864, modelled at Compiegne his statue of the young 
Imperial Prince leaning on the Emperor's favourite dog, a brown 
setter named Nero,* which piece of statuary was saved from 
the conflagration of the Tuileries and is now at Farnborough. 
Carpeaux was also to have executed a bust of the Empress, but 
she could not give him the sittino-s he desired. 

Among the notable musicians who went to Compiegne 
were Auber, Ambroise Thomas and Liszt ; while among the 
men of science, in addition to those previously mentioned, was 
the Empress's eminent relative, Ferdinand de Lesseps, who 
visited the Court when from time to time he came to France 
to rest from his labours at Suez. The Emperor was keenly 
interested in that great enterprise the Suez canal, and often 
remarked to Lesseps : " When you have severed Asia from 
Africa, you must sever North from South America in the same 
way."" Many years previously Napoleon himself, after perusing 
some lectures delivered by Professor Ritter before the Berlin 
Geographical Society, had become keenly interested in the 
question of a Panama or, rather, a Nicaraguan canal. While 
he was imprisoned at Ham he devoted considerable time to 
studying the question, and proposed to go to Central America 
immediately after his release from confinement. There were 
even negotiations between him and various Central American 
authorities, and in support of the scheme he produced a 
pamphlet in the English language, entitled "The Can^l of 

* Napoleon was inclined to be a " doggy " man. He was extremely 
attached to Nero, who generally accompanied him on his walks, and remained 
with him in his private room. If ever the Emperor vacated his armchair, 
Nero immediately installed himself in it, and Napoleon indulgently allowed 
him to remain there. The Emperor also became attached to a little dog 
named Tita, belonging to his secretary, M. P. Pietri. Tita often jumped on 
his knees to be fondled, and lick him in return. 



ST2 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Nicaragua; or, a Project to connect the Atlantic and Pacific 
Oceans by means of a Canal " [London : Mills & Son, 1846].* 
But the negotiations failed, and he then took up his residence 
in King''s Street, St. James''s. 

The sovereigns whom we recall as visitors to Compiegne 
were the Emperor of Austria, and the Kings of Holland, Italy, 
Portugal, and Prussia. The last named went there twice, first 
in November, 1861, when his retinue included Bismarck, 
Hatzfeld, Manteuffel, and the Prince of Reuss. The greatest 
harmony prevailed on that occasion ; Napoleon went about arm- 
in-arm with his good brother William, to whom he was to 
surrender his sword in after-years at Sedan ; and William, when 
reviewing the young pupils of the Grenadiers of the Guard, 
among whom marched the little Imperial Prince, smiled at 
the sight of the child's soldierly bearing, and, turning to 
the Empress, gallantly kissed her hand — a pretty way of 
complimenting her on her son. 

Of course most of the Court folk were invited to Fontaine- 
bleau and Compiegne at one or another time. The horse-racing 
element appeared there with Count Lagrange, Charles Laffitte, 
and the young Talons. Great Britain was represented by her 
ambassadors, the Prince of Wales, the Hamiltons, the Earl of 
Clarendon, Mr. Blount, the Duke of Atholl, the Marquis of 
Tullibardine, and the Earl of Dunmore, who astonished both 
the Court and the natives by appearing in the Highlander 
uniform. We also remember seeing there the present Marquis 
of Lansdowne, who, as the grandson of Count de Flahault, was 
naturally persona grata at the Imperial Court. The ladies of 
Compiegne and Fontainebleau were those of the Tuileries to 
whom we have so often referred. A few additional names may 
perhaps be mentioned. The Empress's mother, Mme. de 
Montijo, who seemed to keep very much in the background 
when the Court Avas in Paris, came quite to the front at 
Compiegne — or perhaps it would be best to say that she was 
more observed there, the company being less numerous than at 
the Tuileries. She often played chess with Merimee. Then, 
too, " Marcello " the sculptor, otherwise the widowed Adele 

* See on that subject M. G. de Molinari's " Napoleon III. publiciste " 
(Brussels, 1861). 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 373 

d'Affrey, Duchess Colonna di Castiglione, was more than once a 
guest at Compiegne, though she was seldom seen at the Tuileries. 
Further, the ladies of the house of Caraman-Chimay followed 
wherever the Court went. Foremost among them were the 
beautiful golden-haired Countess Louise de Mercy-Argenteau 
and her sister Princess Constantine Czartorj'ska, in the veins of 
both of whom coursed the blood of Madame Tallien, The 
Countess, who resembled Marie-Antoinette, was a great pianist, 
and often held the musical folk of the Court entranced by her 
fine performances. She was one of those who, having been a 
friend of the fair days, remained one when the evil days arrived. 
After Sedan, she and her husband visited Napoleon at 
Wilhelmshohe. There was also Mile. Valentine de Caraman- 
Chimay, a sister or cousin of the ladies we have mentioned. She 
was not pretty, but she had a very taking way, and the Empress 
Eugenie was much interested in her. She made, however, 
a most unfortunate marriage with the Prince de BeaufFremont, 
and before many years had elapsed all Europe rang with the 
story of her troubles, which ended by her flight from France 
with her daughters, her change of nationality and religion, and 
her marriage to Prince George Bibesco. 

We have mentioned that there were two kinds of theatrical 
performances at Compiegne. At times the company of the 
Comedie Fran9aise came to play some work of Ponsard's, or 
one of Augier's, such as " Le Gendre de M, Poirier," or else 
a piece of the repertoire, such as " Les Plaideurs " or " Le 
Misanthrope."" At another time one heard the artistes of the 
Opera Comique in " Le Bre aux Clercs "" or " Le Domino Noir," 
and on other occasions came the turn of the Gymnase with 
" Montjoye,"" or of the Vaudeville troupe with Sardou's 
"Famille Benoiton." The actors were always well paid, 
travelled to and fro in special trains, and were entertained 
at champagne suppers after their performance. But it was 
certainly the amateur theatricals which constituted the chief 
feature of evening amusement at Compiegne. Ponsard's clever 
charade in verse called " Harmonic," * Morny's " Succession 

* Armes-au nid. In the first section, Nieuwerkerke figured as a knight 
receiving his arms; in the second, Countess Fleury presented the little 
Imperial Prince in a nest of flo^Yers. 



374 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Bonnet," M. de Massa's " Cascades de Mouchy,"" and particu- 
larly his " Commentaires de Cesar," played in 1865, were 
among the great successes. We have previously referred to 
the last-named production in connection with the prominent 
share which Princess Pauline Metternich took in it.* Count 
Solms, the Prussian Charge d'affaires, who played the part 
of an itinerant marchand de coco ; Baron Lambert, who got 
himself up as the legendary Monsieur Prudhomme, the butt 
of French satirists ; and Mr. Ashton Blount, who figured as 
a music-hall " star " of the fair sex (that is, as Theresa of " La 
Femme a Barbe " and " Rien n'est sacre pour un Sapeur "), 
were among the cleverest of the masculine performers, though 
General Mellinet, as a venerable invalide, and M. de Galliff'et, 
as a young infantryman, also scored successes behind the scenes 
as well as before the footlights. It happened, indeed, that 
during an entr''acte the Emperor strolled to the rear of the 
stage, and on seeing two men in uniform who saluted him and 
whom he did not recognize, he imagined that they belonged 
to the garrison, and had been recruited for some special duty. 
He therefore engaged them in conversation according to his 
practice on such occasions, and he was ah'eady feeling in his 
pockets to ascertain if he had any money about him, when, 
noticing the decrepit appearance imparted to Mellinet by his 
" make up," he exclaimed : " Mais, mon brave, they ought not to 
have brought you here at this time of night. They ought to 
have engaged a younger man. You do not look at all strong." 
At this Mellinet lost his self-control, giving vent to words of 
protest in his natural voice, which immediately revealed his 
identity to Napoleon, who remained for some minutes shaking 
with laughter at the strange appearance of his poor old 
general. 

Some of the songs figuring in M. de Massa's piece were 
very lively, and great was the success of Princess Metternich, 
when, wearing her smart uniform a la " Fille du Regiment," 
with her fist on the little keg at her side, she sang in spirited 

fashion : 

" Je suis une guerri^re 
Au coeur, au coeur joyeux 1 
La vi — la vivandi^re 
Des Turcos bleus I " 

* See ante, p. 285. 



THE VILLEGIATURA OF THE COURT 375 

In the part assigned to Mme. Bartholoni, that of England, 
there were frequent references to the entente cordiale then pre- 
vaiHng between the two countries, and when this lady was 
joined by Mme. de Pourtales, who appeared as France, vows of 
eternal friendship were exchanged, and the following dialogue 
ensued : — 

France : Free trade ! 

England : Yes, and no more passports ! Let us have a bridge 

over the Channel ! 
France : All right ! We will prolong the Boulevard Haussmann 

to Piccadilly. 
Monsie^(,r Prudhomme (aside) : Good ! I must buy land. It will 

go up in value. 

But all that was a dream. No bridge was ever thrown across 
the silver streak, nor does it seem likely that there will ever be 
a tunnel beneath it. 

However imperfect may be our sketch of Court life at Com- 
piegne, it will, we trust, convey to the reader some idea of its 
character, and induce him to banish from his mind all thoughts 
of those foolish legends of " orgies," which at one time circulated 
on every side. A whole volume would be required to do justice 
to the subject. The life was gay in its way, but even if, as we 
mentioned in a previous chapter, some ladies of the Court did 
sometimes appear as dames du ballet, the line was drawn there. 
Of course, no indecorum was ever witnessed either then or 
at the general dancing. For the rest, there were the picturesque 
meets in the forest on hunting days, all the exhilarating rides 
and drives hither and thither, whence many a guest, whether 
jaded politician or pleasure-seeker, derived undoubted benefit, 
returning to Paris with a new fund of energy for the work or 
the amusements of the coming season. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE IMPERIAL PRINCE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE 

WAR AND REVOLUTION — FATE OF THE TUILERIES 

The Imperial Prince — His Governesses, Nurse, and Tutors — A Plucky Boy — ■ 
His Military Education — His Governor, General Frossard — His Aides-de- 
camp — His Equerry, Stables, and Horses — Playmates of his Boyhood — 
Political Prospects — The Emperor and Parliamentary Eule — The Necessity 
of Revenge on Prussia — The Coalition between France, Austria, and Italy 
— The Mission of General Lebrun — The first HohenzoUern Candidature — 
The New Liberal Empire— The Career of Emile OUivier — He becomes 
Prime Minister — Squibs on Rouher — OUivier's Difficulties — Madame 
Ollivier — The New Constitution and the Plebiscitum — The Medical 
Consultation respecting Napoleon's Health — The Illness still kept Secret 
— The Second HohenzoUern Candidature and the Outbreak of War — 
The Emperor and his Illness again — The French Defeats and OUivier's 
Fall — The Last Reception at the Tuileries — Bazaine under Metz — General 
Trochu and the Empress — The Emperor's proposed Return to Paris — The 
Empress's Last Days at the Tuileries — The News of Sedan in Paris — 
The Revolution — Scenes at the Tuileries — Departure of the Empress — 
The Palace during the Siege of Paris and the Commune — Its Destruction 
by Fire. 

In chronicling the birth of the Imperial Prince we mentioned 
that Mme. Bruat, widow of the distinguished admiral of that 
name who commanded the French fleet during the Crimean 
War, was appointed Governess of the Children of France, 
with Mme. Bizot, widow of General Bizot, and Mme. de 
Branpion, widow of a colonel of the Line, as under-governesses. 
The duties attaching to those posts were neither many nor 
onerous, the child*'s bringing-up being so largely directed by his 
mother the Empress. Mme. Bruat's salary was c£*1200, that 
of Mmes. de Branfion and Bizot .^^400 a year. Mme. Bruat 
did not reside at the Tuileries, but called there every day in a 
Court carriage placed at her disposal. One or other of the 
under-governesses was, however, always at the palace, and 
accompanied the little Prince whenever he was taken for a 



THE IMPERIAL PRINCE 3T7 

drive. The under-governesses were lodged and boarded, and 
dined every Sunday at the imperial table. 

The person who actually brought up the little Prince, 
particularly after he was weaned, was his English governess 
or nurse, Miss Shaw, a well-bred, intelligent, and devoted 
woman, to whom the child became extremely attached. She 
was constantly with him, sleeping from the time of his birth 
onward in an alcove of the room he occupied. In March, 1863, 
when the Prince, having completed his seventh year, was 
officially regarded as being no longer in the custody of women 
(though de facto this was scarcely the case), M. Francis Monnier 
was appointed to be his tutor. The boy was at that time 
inclined to be turbulent and self-willed, and Monnier, a literary 
man, often absent-minded and careless, like some of his class, 
did not give full satisfaction. His place was taken, then, by 
M. Augustin Filon, who remained attached to the Prince's 
person in one or another capacity until he quitted the Royal 
Military Academy at Woolwich. In addition to a resident 
tutor, the boy had several masters. He was instructed in 
matters of religion and prepared for his first communion by 
Abbe Deguerry of the Madeleine, who came to the Tuileries 
twice a week. After the Prince had made his first com- 
munion in 1869, the Abbe still gave him certain instruction 
once a fortnight. The Prince's handwriting-master was a 
M. Simonard, who gave him two lessons a week. A Mr. 
Maynard gave him lessons in English, and a M. Levy 
lessons in German. Further, still twice a week, he was in- 
structed in history by a then young but now distinguished 
man, M. Ernest Lavisse, of the French Academy. That was 
an age of Latin, and thus there was five Latin lessons each 
week, the masters being successively M. Edeline, M. Poyart, 
and M. Cuvillier. There was no interruption of the lessons, 
whether the Prince were at the Tuileries, or St. Cloud, or 
Fontainebleau, or Compiegne. In the two former instances the 
masters were fetched and driven home in Court carriages ; in 
the latter they travelled by rail as members of the Imperial 
Household, and carriages were again at their disposal. With 
respect to the Court's sojourn at Biarritz, that coincided with 
the l*rince's vacation. 



378 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

There is no doubt that he was an intelligent boy and made 
good progress with his studies. He had artistic inclinations 
and could draw very fairly indeed. He was also very plucky, 
the result, in some measure, no doubt, of his training even in 
infancy, when he was allowed to tumble about and pick himself 
up as best he could. It is related that on one occasion in his 
early years, when Dr. Nelaton performed some operation on 
him, he suddenly winced. " Did I hurt you ? " Nelaton inquired. 
" No, monsieur le docteur," the boy answered, " but you startled 
me." It may be added that at an early date those about the 
Prince impressed on him that the name of Napoleon was a 
synonym of bravery, and that, his own name being Napoleon, 
it was his duty to be brave. There are many anecdotes of his 
childhood, which show that he never forgot that lesson.* 

His training for the profession of arms began at a very early 
date. As an infant he was taught the military salute, and in 
1860, when he was but four years old, he was incorporated, at 
least nominally, among the enfants de troupe of the Grenadiers 
of the Guard, and began to attend reviews with his father. 
A little later real drilling commenced ; he learnt the goose 
step, bayonet exercise, fencing, and so forth. The illustrated 
newspapers of those days were full of engravings showing him 
participating with his young comrades in the drill-lessons 
given them. At last, in 186T, when the Prince was only in 
his eleventh year, a Military Governor was assigned to him, 
this being General Frossard, who had served the Emperor as 
aide-de-camp, and who, as we had occasion to point out in one 
of our early chapters,! was an officer of considerable merit, in 
spite of his defeat at Forbach (Speichern) at the outset of the 
Franco-German War. In that connection it may be mentioned 
that already in 1867 Frossard prepared for the Emperor an 
elaborate plan for the defence of France in the event of a 
Prussian attack. When invasion came in 1870, some part of 
Frossard's plan was put into execution. It was, notably, in 
accordance with his ideas that the battle of Worth, schemed 
out by him in 1867, was fought. Frossard, however, had 
planned it with a view to victory, not defeat, though in the 

* By his father and mother, however, he was invariably called Louis. 

t See ante, p. 47. 



THE IxMPERIAL PRINCE 379 

latter case it was to have been followed by a strenuous defence 
in the forest of Haguenau. Unfortunately, Frossard did not 
correctly forecast the relative strength of the combatants ; the 
success of his plan depended also on the presence of a more able 
general than MacMahon, and he never imagined that Worth 
would, even in the Avorst case, become such a rout and panic as 
to prevent all possibility of resorting to the Haguenau-forest 
defence. At the same time, Frossard's scheme (which provided 
for four armies totalling 440,000 men) shows genuine ability, 
and under other circumstances, had the effective and general 
disposition of the French forces been different, it might have 
achieved, perhaps, a measure of success.* 

The General was a tall, slim, and somewhat reserved man, 
whom the Emperor knew to be an excellent father, for which 
reason he entrusted the young Prince to his care. They got on 
very well together, and the Prince until his last years always 
spoke favourably of his military governor. Frossard''s emolu- 
ments were ^£^1200 a year, with the use of horses and carriages 
of the imperial stables. Under him were the Prince's aides-de- 
camp (salary i?400 per annum), who were selected from among 
the Emperor's former orderly officers. They included Count 
Viel-d'Espeuilles, a lieut.-colonel of cavalry ; Count de Ligniville, 
a major of light-infantry (Chasseurs-a-pied) ; Major Lamey, an 
engineer officer ; and Captain Duperre, of the imperial navy. 
MM. Lamey and Duperre were with the Prince during the cam- 
paign of 1870, the last-named accompanying him to Belgium 
and thence to England. Both were devoted to the imperial 
family. A doctor, M. Barthez, was also attached to the 
Prince's person. 

The latter's stable was quite distinct from the Emperor's 
establishment, except with regard to its expenses, and the 
general control of the Great and First Equerries. The Prince's 
riding-master was M. Bachon, a Gascon by birth, who had once 
belonged to the cavalry school of Saumur, but who, having 
participated in Napoleon's attempt at Boulogne, had lost his 

* Frossard's plan will be found in Part I. of the French official History of 
the War: "La Guerre de 1870-71," Paris, Chapelot, 1902. Frossard's best 
achievement was probably the direction of the siege works of Sebastopol under 
Pelissier. 



380 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

position by it. Bachon was already an elderly man when he 
began to teach the Prince to ride, but he had remained young 
in his ways, with a good deal of joviality, due perhaps to his 
Gascon origin. He received, after a time, the title of Equerry 
to the Prince. Before the latter could ride, however, he had 
his carriage service ; first, of course, the inevitable goat-cart, 
then a little carriage drawn by two cream-coloured ponies, and 
next for driving about Paris a large landau and a D'Aumont 
equipage, while a posting landau was provided for excursions of 
any distance, and a parasol-sociable for country drives. When 
the Prince was in Paris he was driven virtually every day to 
Lord Hertford's charming place, Bagatelle, in the Bois de 
Boulogne. The Emperor wished to purchase it, but Lord 
Hertford declined the proposal, at the same time begging 
Napoleon to send his son to Bagatelle as often as he pleased. 
Thus, nearly every afternoon, the little fellow repaired thither 
with his governess, nurse, equerry, and an escort of Guides, and 
it was chiefly in those beautiful, secluded, private grounds 
that he learnt to ride. The first mount he ever had was a 
diminutive Shetland pony, Balmoral, which Queen Victoria sent 
him. This he rode with a safety-saddle, but he was promoted 
to an ordinary one on receiving a pony called Arlequino from 
King Victor Emmanuel, who subsequently sent him his first 
charger, Bouton d'Or. Next came a pair of Pyrenean mares, 
Effy and Fleurette, then an Arab called Kaled, which had been 
given to the Emperor in Algeria in 1865. Kaled, one of the 
Prince's favourite horses, was his mount in 1870, when he viewed 
the engagement of Saarbriicken, and received his baptism of fire. 
He also had three other Arabs, the gifts of Sultan Abdul Aziz, 
a Russian horse. The Czar, sent to him by Alexander II., and 
a young Spanish barb, Solferino, which was a present from 
Queen Isabella. He ended by riding extremely well. At an 
early age he took lessons in vaulting, and was soon able to 
spring into the saddle without setting foot in the stirrup. It is 
probable that this was what he tried to do on the 1st of June, 
1879, when he found himself faced by the Zulus. Unfortunately 
for him, according to the statements of Mr. Archibald Forbes 
and others, his mount was over-tall for a young man of his 
stature, with the result that he failed in his leap, and was slain. 



THE IMPERIAL PllINCE 381 

A good many friends of the Prince's boyhood still survive. 
First and foremost among them was his particular chum, Louis 
Conneau, the son of the doctor, the Emperor''s devoted adherent. 
The others were also sons of his father's or mother's friends, 
Corvisart, Fleury, Bourgoing, Espinasse, La Bedoyere, and La 
Poeze. The lads played together at the Tuileries or in the 
reserved garden of the palace, or in the grounds at Bagatelle ; 
and the young Prince showed himself extremely companionable, 
never evincing any disposition to lord it over the others. What 
kind of man he might have eventually become it is difficult to 
surmise ; still less is it possible to estimate what might have 
been his chances against the Republic which has hitherto 
emerged victorious from every attempt against her. The 
Emperor dragged the weight of the Coup d'Etat after him 
throughout his reign ; the Prince, though not personally re- 
sponsible, would also have had to bear the weight both of 
Sedan and the lost provinces — for was he not a Bonaparte ? We 
think, then, that even had he lived, he would never have reigned 
over France. 

The thought of the young fellow's chances of peaceful 
accession, the thought of the undisputed continuance of the 
dynasty, was evidently one which often came to Napoleon III. 
as time went by. He, the Emperor, was suffering from an 
ailment which became more and more serious — much more 
serious indeed than even the doctors, who examined him in 
July, 1870, imagined, for organic changes, which were not then 
suspected and which " even if suspected could not (according to 
Sir Henry Thompson) have been ascertained," were, it seems, 
in progress at that period, their development being revealed at 
the examination after death. In any case, whether the Emperor 
imagined himself to be in actual danger or not, he must have 
been well aware that he was no longer the man he had been, 
and that it was needful he should look to the future, and 
provide for it. 

How was he to do so ? He could not leave such a legacy 
as personal rule to his widow and his young son. He well knew 
what personal rule meant, its difficulties, its dangers, the- 
unremitting toil which it entailed. He himself was more or 
less tired of the burden to which his failing strength was no 



38^ THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

longer equal. On the other hand there was the growth of the 
demagogic spirit in Paris and some other large cities to be 
contended with; and how could that be done successfully if 
autocratic sway were abandoned ? Perhaps liberal measures 
would tend to disarm the demagogy, and at the same time 
gather more closely round the throne the more sober-minded of 
the nation, the folk who desired the maintenance of order so 
that they might pursue their avocations in peace. It was 
desirable that it should be to the interest of all those people to 
uphold the regime, and that might be best achieved by associat- 
ing them in a greater degree with the government of the country. 
Thus, in the Emperor"'s opinion, the time was at hand for real 
parliamentary rule. He would, moreover, take the country"'s 
opinion on the subject by a Plebiscitum, of the result of which 
he had little or no doubt, holding, too, that, while sanctioning 
his reforms, it would also consolidate the dynasty. 

But there was yet another point. The foreign policy of 
the Empire had been discredited by repeated failures. The 
regime's prestige in that respect could only be revived by 
some great success. None was to be hoped for in the field of 
diplomacy, but in spite of lost opportunities it might yet be 
gained on the field of battle. New lustre would then be 
imparted to the Empire, the position of the dynasty would 
be yet again strengthened, the demagogues would be silenced 
by the acclamations of a victorious nation, proud of its increase 
of territory — the extension of the French frontier to the Rhine; 
and then he, the Emperor, might depart whenever he were 
called, confident that his son would reign. Moreover, the 
activity of Prussia in various directions was disquieting, and 
required to be checked. South Germany still enjoyed, no 
doubt, a measure of independence, but how long would that 
last "i If the whole Fatherland became absolutely united, 
France would have a perpetual, intolerable menace on her 
eastern frontier. For a time, according to the assertions of 
certain French diplomatists, notably M. de St. Vallier, it seemed 
probable that South Germany, in its dread of Prussia, would 
eagerly rise against her, should opportunity occur. But leaving 
that as doubtful, there was the possibility of obtaining the 
co-operation of Austria, which was still smarting from the 



LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE 383 

reverses of 1866 and regretting its loss of control over German 
affairs. Further, Napoleon considered that he had claims on 
Italy, for he had rendered her important services, even if he had 
kept her out of Rome. Thus a great scheme arose in the 
imperial mind. 

As a matter of fact war had been threatening ever since 
1866 when France had failed to obtain the " compensations " 
for which she had negotiated ; but although army reorganiza- 
tion was then planned, and afterwards carried out in some 
degree — though without sufficient vigour — by Niel (who, how- 
ever good he may have been at planning, was, by reason of his 
illness, less competent to execute) the actual steps for forming a 
coalition against Prussia were not taken until 1869, when 
communications on the subject passed between Napoleon and 
the Austrian Emperor. Negotiations with Victor Emmanuel 
appear to have ensued, and early in 1870 Archduke Albert of 
Austria came to Paris to discuss the question. In May the 
Emperor Napoleon's aide-de-camp, General Lebrun,* received 
instructions to proceed to Vienna to prepare plans there, and 
on the 28th he quitted Paris, travelling in the first instance to 
Berlin, in the hope of thereby throwing the Prussian govern- 
ment off the scent, though in reality he failed to do so. 
Reaching Vienna, however, Lebrun there had numerous confer- 
ences with Archduke Albert, and it was agreed that Germany 
should be invaded by the entire forces of France and Austria 
with the support of 100,000 Italians or more — for according to 
the statements of both the French Emperor and the Austrian 
Archduke to Lebrun, Victor Emmanuel had promised his 
assistance. As a matter of fact the King of Italy had already 
promised neutrality to Prussia, pursuing a kind of Machia- 
vellian policy, prepared as he was, perhaps, to serve the interests 
of the side which might prove the stronger, but guided 
principally in the course he took by the hope that the chances 
of the conflict would ensure him the possession of Rome — so 
long the object of Italian ambition. In any case, Italy''s 
promises to Prussia were not known to General Lebrun and 
Archduke Albert when they met. According to their plan, then, 
while one French army was threatening the Palatinate, three 
* See ante, p. 47. 



S84 THE COURT OF THE Tan.ERlES 

others, Italian, French, and Austrian, each 100,000 strong, 
were to invade Germany from the south, south-west, and south- 
east, and detach the southern kingdoms and states from any 
alliance with the north, against which the remaining forces of 
France and Austria would co-operate. Moreover, Archduke 
Albert appeared to believe that Italy would place not only 
100,000 men but her entire army, at the service of the coalition. 
General Lebrun estimated that France would be able to 
throw 400,000 men across the German frontier in a fortnight, 
but he learnt that the mobilization of Austria would require a 
period of forty-two days, and Austria, moreover, was unwilling 
to begin mobilizing until France had declared war. At an 
audience granted to Lebrun by Francis Joseph, he was told by 
the latter that the war must be brought about in such a way 
that it might appear to be forced upon Austria, and that there 
must be every certainty of success. In addition, Archduke 
Albert insisted that there should be no hostilities till the spring 
of 1871 ; before that year he would be unable to co-operate, 
and a later season than spring would, in his opinion, jeopardise 
the chances of success. It follows, then, that already in 
1869 Napoleon III. was planning a coalition against Prussia, 
and that in May, 1 870, it was agreed that Germany should be 
invaded in April or May, 1871.* 

On the other side, Bismarck and Moltke had regarded war 
as inevitable ever since 1866, from which time forward the 
latter had been busy preparing for it, while Bismarck on his side 
had virtually assured himself of the co-operation of the South 
German States by divulging to them the secret " compensation " 
projects, so foolishly left with him, in 1866, by the French 
representative Benedetti. In France, until the very outbreak 
of the war in 1870, it was popularly believed that, whatever 
ZoUverein arrangements and other bonds might link North 
and South Germany together, the latter would surely rise against 
the former; but it seems evident that this illusion was no 
longer entertained by Napoleon in the spring of 1870, as the 
agreement with Austria provided for the occupation of the 

* We have naturally based our account of the negotiations on General 
Lebrun's work, " Souvenirs Militaires : Ma Mission a Vienne," Paris, 1895. 
Of the general accuracy of that work there can be no doubt whatever. 



LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE 385 

South German States. In that matter, much as the illusion 
may still have been shared by some French diplomatists, the 
Emperor may have been enlightened by Prince Metternich or 
Archduke Albert. 

We have said that the war was virtually inevitable after 
1866. It nearly broke out in the following year over the 
Luxemburg question, and there was again a perilous moment 
in 1869, when for the first time the candidature of a Prince of 
Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was mooted.* The idea 
seems to have been then an exclusively Prussian one, no offer of 
the crown coming from Spain, but Prince Bismarck opening 
negotiations with certain Spanish agents in order to bring 
about such an offer. Benedetti, the French ambassador at 
Berlin, sent word of what was being done to Paris, and 
Napoleon promptly put his foot down, Prussia being given to 
understand that France would regard such a candidature as a 
casus belli. It was thereupon withdrawn, and, outwardly at all 
events, no very unpleasant consequences seemed likely to ensue 
from the incident ; but it is certain that Napoleon was again 
alarmed by the activity of Prussia, and that from the moment 
of this first Hohenzollern candidature the idea of invading 
Germany, with the assistance of Austria, took definite shape, 
resulting, as we have said, in the Archduke Albert's visit to 
Paris and the mission of General Lebrun. 

While all those momentous diplomatic and military matters 
were receiving attention, important changes were taking place 
in France. Though the so-called " Liberal Empire " had come 
into being in 1860, real constitutional government, as under- 
stood in England, was still inexistent. It has been pointed out 

* Isabella II. had been overthrown the previous year, and compelled to 
flee to France, where she was received with great kindness by the Emperor 
and Empress. Purchasing the Hotel Basilewski, in the Avenue du Eoi de 
Eome, of a Russian nobleman who had virtually ruined himself in building 
it, she re-christened it the Palais de Castille, and lived there in great state, 
while Don Francisco de Asis, her husband (a " friendly " separation super- 
vening between them) betook himself to a modest ground-floor in the Rue 
des Ecuries d'Artois. Other sovereigns in exile to be found in Paris about 
that time were the blind King of Hanover, Francis II. of Naples and his wife, 
and that old resident, the pink and white Duke of Brunswick, with the flaxen 
wig, the chocolate-coloured mansion, the yellow and strawberry coach, and 
the safe full of diamonds— recovered after the daring theft perpetrated by 
his English valet, Shaw. 

2 c 



386 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

that solicitude for his dynasty, illness, and force of circum- 
stances, gradually inclined Napoleon to make a trial of such a 
form of sovereignty by giving the nation an increase of liberty, 
enlarging still further the sphere of parliamentary action, which 
had already been extended in 1860 and 1867, and reviving that 
ministerial responsibility to the Legislature which had existed 
in the time of Louis Philippe and of the Second Republic. In 
1869 the semi-parliamentary regime, over which Rouher had 
virtually presided since its inauguration in '67, was in a parlous 
state. There had been a succession of very indifferent Ministers 
of the Interior, the anti-dynastic party had grown larger and 
bolder, and no little rioting occurred in connection with the 
general elections, when, despite great Government pressure, the 
Republican Opposition increased its numbers, while a Third 
Party of some thirty deputies, tinged with Orleanism, came 
into being. The political situation was even affected by a 
crime at common law — a great and horrible one, it is true — the 
murder of the Kinck family by a young fellow named Tropp- 
mann — the wildest legends springing up concerning him and 
his abominable deed. Briefly, there was considerable unrest of 
one and another kind, arising from a variety of causes. 

Rouher, Persigny, and others advised the Emperor to revert 
to autocratic sway ; but he, on the contrary, became more and 
more resolved to try parliamentary rule. The Prime Minister 
he finally chose was Emile Ollivier, to whom we previously 
referred.*' Born at Marseilles in July, 1825, and the son of a 
merchant of that city, who sat in the chambers of the Second 
Republic and opposed the restoration of the Empire, Ollivier, 
after being called to the Bar, was appointed Commissary of 
the Republic in his native city, where he suppressed some 
socialist risings in June, 1848. Cavaignac then made him 
Prefect, but early in 1849 he returned to the Bar, and pleaded 
ably in several important political and other cases. At the 
general election of 1857 he was elected as a deputy for Paris, 
being one of the famous Five who then formed the sum total 
of the parliamentary Opposition to the Empire. At that time 
Ollivier pompously claimed to appear in its midst as " the 
Spectre of the Second of December'" — that is, of the Coup 
* See ante, pp. 177, 232.' 



LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE S8T 

d'Etat ; yet in another four years he was making advances to 
the regime which he had denounced. Already, in 1861, his 
apostasy was foreseen by the Republicans who had been his 
friends. On his re-election in 1863 he accepted from the 
Emperor a mission to report on certain differences which had 
arisen between the Suez Canal Company and the Viceroy of 
Egypt, those differences having been submitted to the Emperor's 
arbitration. Further, in 1864, the Duke de Morny became 
very gracious with Ollivier, made a show of seeking his advice, 
and caused him to be selected to report to the Chamber on an 
important working-class societies' bill. In the following year 
Ollivier s evolution towards the Empire went further, and he 
was rewarded by an appointment as " Commissaire de Surveil- 
lance " in connection with the Suez Canal Company, a sinecure 
to which was attached a salary of £\.9.QQ a year. The accept- 
ance of such a post was contrary to all the traditions of the 
Paris Bar, of which Ollivier was a member. The Council of 
the Order of Advocates therefore called on him to choose 
between it and his position as a barrister. He chose the 
salaried post, and his name was struck off the roll. 

Having become one of the Empire's creatures, he drew yet 
nearer and nearer to it. During the Empress's regency in 
1865, he was presented to her, dining en petit comite at the 
Tuileries ; and at the close of the following year Count 
Walewski placed him in direct communication with the 
Emperor, who was then meditating the reforms specified in 
his letter of January 19, 1867. Thus the author of the 
Coup d'Etat and the man who, when first presenting himself 
before the Paris electorate, had claimed to be its ghost, and 
had promised to do his duty " in the name of France and the 
Republican cause," at last came face to face. Their first 
interview took place at the Tuileries, about five o'clock on 
January 10, 1867. Walewski had offered Ollivier the offices 
of Minister of Public Instruction and general Government 
orator in the Legislative Body; but Ollivier declared to the 
Emperor that the more independent he might remain, the 
more efficacious would be his help. Napoleon therefore gave 
him no post, but some correspondence passed between them, 
and a second meeting took place, which Rouher was to have 



388 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

attended. But he did not come, and, after the audience, 
OUivier, imagining that he had thoroughly converted the 
Emperor to all his views, quitted the Tuileries in a state of 
rapture, which impelled him (according to a factum he wrote 
somewhat later) to wander for some hours, star-gazing, along 
the quays of the Seine. He already pictured himself to be 
the Restorer of French Liberty. The Man of that Second of 
December, of which Ollivier was the ghost, had appeared to 
him charming — absolument I 

The best proof that Ollivier did not inspire the reforms 
of January 19 is, that when the Emperor's letter announcing 
them appeared, he was not satisfied with it. Meantime Rouher 
proceeded on his way ; and between him and Ollivier (who was 
now altogether shunned by his former Republican associates) 
there ensued many a bout of eloquence during the parliamentary 
sessions of the next few years. Ollivier's hour came at last. 
Disapproving of the Emperor''s evolution towards Liberalism, 
Rouher had to retire from active authority in the autumn of 
1869, and was appointed President of the Senate in the place 
of Troplong, a jurisconsult of some learning and sagacity, who 
had held the post for many years. Then came Forcade de la 
Roquette's brief administration, and in the last days of 1869, 
while the Court was at Compiegne, the Emperor finally decided 
on a real parliamentary regime^ and offered Ollivier the chief 
ministry. 

The first impression of the public after the appointment of 
Ollivier and his colleagues on January 2, 1870, was certainly 
favourable. The funds rose. Many people had feared a return 
of Rouher's rule. That " Vice-Emperor " had made himself the 
most unpopular man in Paris. Several amusing songs and paro- 
dies, in which he figured, had been circulated about the time of 
his downfall. There was a parody of Victor Hugo, beginning — 

" Or voici la grande revue 

Que passe, lugubre et sans bruit, 
Pleurant sa d^faite imprevue, 
Eouher a I'heure de minuit." 

Another — a very clever parody of Chateaubriand — dating from 
the same period, or a little earlier, when the once all-powerful 
minister's fate was trembling in the balance, ran as follows : — 



LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE 389 

Combien j'ai douce souvenance 
Des premiers jours de ma puissance ; 
On faisait a tous mes discours 

Silence. 
Ma place sera mes amours 

Toujours 1 

Alors je n'avais qu'a paraitre 
A la tribune pour soumettre 
La Chambre, qui, foUe de moi, 

Son maitre, 
Votait, sans demander pourquoi, 

Ma loi. 

Aujourd'hui la Chambre indocile, 
A ma voix n'est plus si facile ; 
Son devouement, par contre-coup, 

Vacille. 
Je n'en viens presque plus du tout 

A bout. 

Qui ramenera I'inhumaine 
Sous ma volont(§ souveraine ? 
Son abandon fait tous les jours 

Ma peine — 
Ma place sera mes amours 

Toujours 1 

In the new Government Ollivier was Minister of Justice 
and Religion. His colleagues included Chevandier de Val- 
drome (Interior), Marshal Leboeuf (War), Admiral Rigault de 
Genouilly (Marine), Count Napoleon Daru, a godson of the first 
Emperor (Foreign Affairs), Buffet (Finance), and the Marquis de 
Talhouet (Public Works). The other appointments need not be 
specified, but it may be mentioned that Daru * had opposed 
the Coup d'Etat and that Buffet and Talhouet had protested 
against it. They were, in point of fact, Orleanists, and after 
the Plebiscitum they resigned, being replaced by the Duke 
de Gramont and MM. Mege and Plichon. At first, the 
Orleanist deputies of the Chamber, that Third Party of which 
we have spoken, rallied round the new Ministry, their adherents 
joined them, and with this support Ollivier basked in a semblance 
of popularity. But all that these new partisans desired was to 
participate in a new Cwee, a great distribution of favours and 
appointments; while on the other hand, the Prime Ministei* 

* See also ;post, p. 405, 



390 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

and his colleagues were cordially detested by all the real 
Imperialists and the Republicans, The new appointments 
were comparatively few, certain functionaries, like Baron Hauss- 
mann, were dismissed and replaced, but the new regime was at 
a loss how to fill many offices. The Empire had spent eighteen 
years in training its prefects and sub-prefects, and Ollivier, 
having few men at his disposal on whom he could rely, was 
forced to leave the great majority of the old functionaries in 
office. • Again, the Senate presided over by Rouher frowned on 
him, all sorts of coteries, too, suddenly sprang up in the 
Chamber, while the Court looked on with a feeling of dis- 
appointment. It is true that Madame Ollivier was a great 
success. The daughter of a M. Gravier, a Marseilles merchant, 
she was the Prime Minister's second wife,* their marriage 
dating from the previous year. And she came to the Tuileries 
quite fresh and young, with bourgeois manners, refusing to 
wear a low-necked gown, yet looking quite charming in her 
white frock, which was set off neither by lace nor jewels, the 
lady's only coquetterie being a sprig of heather in her smooth 
fair hair. All that was quite novel to many Tuileries folk. It 
seemed as if St. Muslin, so often invoked during the perform- 
ances of Sardou's " Famille Benoiton,"" had at last heard the 
appeal and come to the rescue. In any case a reign of " Sweet 
Simplicity " set in. Trains were almost abandoned, hair was 
more simply dressed, the " false " variety being discarded, and 
diamonds were left in their cases. 

Meantime, however, serious trouble had assailed the new 
ministry. Only eight days after its assumption of office, Victor 
Noir, the journalist, expired in a chemist's shop at Auteuil, 
killed by Prince Pierre Bonaparte.f Then came the demonstra- 
tion at his funeral, followed by an infinity of riotous incidents, 
wild provocative articles in the advanced Press, the arrest of 
Rochefort, exciting scenes at public meetings, turmoil that 
never ceased. Amidst all those disquieting symptoms, how- 
ever, the new Constitution was drafted. It established parlia- 
mentary rule, made the ministers responsible to the Chambers, 

* M. Ollivier's first wife was Mile. Blandine Liszt, a daughter of the 
famous pianist. She died in 1862. 
t See ante, p. 242. 



LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE 391 

gave members of the latter the right to introduce bills, provided 
that commercial treaties should be submitted to them, and 
limited to twenty the number of senators whom the Emperor 
might appoint in any one year. Further, it named Prince 
Napoleon as heir to the throne in the event of the death of 
the Imperial Prince.* There were two ways of securing the 
country's ratification of the reforms, one was by means of a 
Plebiscitum, the other by a dissolution and general elections. 
The Orleanists in the ministry were really opposed to the 
Plebiscitum, for they feared it would consolidate the Empire, 
and they had only accepted office in order to undermine it. 
However, a Plebiscitum was taken — such being the Emperor's 
personal desire — and the solemn presentation of the result to 
the Sovereign in the Salle des Etats at the Louvre was the last 
great Court ceremony of the reign. 

Napoleon, judging by the result of the Paris elections of 
1869, had estimated that 6,000,000 votes would be cast in 
his favour, but the Ayes were, in round numbers, 7,350,000, 
against 1,530,000 Noes, the latter including nearly 50,000 
army votes, at least half of which, however, emanated from 
men angry at having been kept with the colours (owing to 
certain fears) six months beyond their time. That is no 
fiction. Nearly all the men at the Prince Eugene barracks 
in Paris voted " No," and the Emperor was greatly disturbed 
on hearing it. A little later, therefore, he visited the barracks, 
and was immediately acclaimed by the men. Their vote had 
been dictated solely by their personal grievance, and had no 
political signification. The Emperor, well pleased on finding 
that such was the case, ordered a distribution of gratuities 
among the men — which was not, perhaps, the best course to 
pursue. Still there is no doubt that the army vote, generally, 
was much less unfavourable than it seemed. At the same 
time, great as might be the Imperial majority at the Plebis- 
citum, it was noteworthy that the minority had now become 
six times larger than it had been when the country was called 
upon to sanction the establishment of the Empire. In Paris 
and its immediate vicinity the adversaries of the o'egime were 

* Previously Prince Napoleon had only been designated by decree. See 
ante, p. 61. 



392 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

24^0,000, another 100,000 being in the departments of which 
Lyons and Marseilles are the chief cities. In fact, the " Noes '' 
were very numerous throughout southern France ; and, briefly, 
if the Emperor was pleased with his majority, the anti-dynastic 
party was, on the whole, not dissatisfied at finding itself so 
strong, even though some wild Republicans had at one moment 
imagined that they would sweep the country. 

The Plebiscitum was taken about a week before the de- 
parture of General Lebrun on his mission to Vienna — a 
circumstance not without its significance. Yet the vote was 
certainly no vote for war. Going from Paris to Touraine, and 
thence to Brittany about that time, the impression we received 
was that the great majority of people desired to enjoy tran- 
quillity and to see order re-established in Paris, whence the 
newspapers brought all sorts of exaggerated reports. Many 
who voted " Yes " scarcely approved of the new Constitution, 
and it was more as an expression of confidence in the Emperor 
personally that their votes were given. Again, there was 
occasionally an old Imperialist who stubbornly refused to vote 
at all, not wishing to do so against the Emperor, yet unwilling 
to give any support to Emile Ollivier. Apart, too, from per- 
sonal observation in central and western France, documentary 
evidence shows that the Premier was nowhere more unpopular 
than in the south, his native part ; and this, in despite of the 
fact that, having been rejected by the Parisian electors as an 
apostate, he now sat for the department of the Var. That had 
been brought about in some degree by Government influence. 
Pressure was also brought to bear on the electors in connection 
with the Plebiscitum, but the facts have often been exaggerated 
by Republican writers, who have been careful to say little or 
nothing of the stupendous effbrts of their own party, which, 
counting several men of great personal wealth in its ranks, 
disposed of a large amount of money. 

In a way, it was possible for Ollivier to deceive himself 
respecting his real hold on public opinion. The Orleanists, 
hoping to make him their tool, coquetted with him vigorously ; 
and the French Academy, then one of their strongholds, became 
so gracious, that in this, the last year of the reign, one saw for the 
first time a Minister of the Empire elected as a member of that 



LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE 893 

company of Immortals. Moreover, all who sought appoint- 
ments, and all who feared lest they might lose those they held, 
fawned upon the Prime Minister, who thus had an entourage 
by which he might be deceived respecting his popularity. At 
last the Orleanists, who, wishing to turn the agitation of the 
Republicans to their own advantage, had roused themselves 
so suddenly from their prolonged somnolence — and were to 
make their influence felt immediately after the approaching 
war — unmasked their batteries. The Count de Paris and his 
relatives, the Prince de Joinville, the Dukes d'Aumale, de 
Nemours, and de Chartres, petitioned the Chamber for per- 
mission to return to France as "mere citizens." It was impossible 
for the Empire to accede to such a petition, and Ollivier was 
forced to oppose it. Scarcely had it been dismissed (July 2, 
1870) when France was startled by a thunderclap. 

At that time the Court was en residence at St. Cloud. 
Nevertheless, on July 1, a very important consultation on 
the subject of the Emperor"'s illness took place in great secrecy 
in Paris between Drs. Nelaton, Ricord, Fauvel, Germain See, 
and Corvisart. Two days later it became known that Prince 
Leopold of Hohenzollern was a candidate for the Spanish 
throne. From this it will be seen that the consultation of 
the Emperor's doctors preceded the incidents which actually 
led up to the Franco-German war, and was therefore dictated 
by none of them. At the same time, it may not have been 
brought about solely by the Emperor's anxiety respecting 
his health, as the arrangements for it followed the return 
of General Lebrun from his mission to Vienna, and we are 
inclined to think that if the Emperor at last decided to 
place himself unreservedly in the hands of his doctors for 
treatment, it was, in at least some degree, with a view to 
his participation in the campaign planned for the spring of 
1871. There was no exploratory surgical examination of the 
Emperor, but the report of the consultation drawn up by Dr. 
Germain See advised such an examination, adding, "and we 
think that this is an opportune moment, particularly as just 
now there are no acute symptoms." 

On July 3, See drafted his report, and on the same day 
he gave it to Dr. Conneau (by whom the consultation had 



394 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

been arranged), asking him to get it signed by the other 
medical men, and to show it afterwards to the Empress. But 
Conneau did not procure the other signatures, and it is at 
least very doubtful whether it was shown to the Empress 
at all. According to Dr. See it was not. However, M. 
Darimon, a friend of Emile Ollivier, asserts in his work, " La 
Maladie de TEmpereur,"" that subsequent to the latter's death, 
on Prince Napoleon reproaching Conneau for having kept Dr. 
See''s report secret, the latter declared that he had shown it to 
the rightful person (a qui de droit), and that the reply it 
elicited was : Le vin est tire, il faut le boire, which may be 
Englished perhaps as, " The die is cast, we must abide by the 
result*" — the communication being made of course after the 
Hohenzollern candidature difficulty had arisen with Prussia. 
M. Darimon attributes the reply in question to the Empress, 
but we are confident he is in error — " the rightful person "" 
referred to by Conneau, being none other than Napoleon him- 
self, to whom Conneau submitted See's report directly it was 
received, in order that he, the Emperor, might know how 
serious the doctors considered his case to be. Conneau doubt- 
less intended to procure the other doctors' signatures, and he 
also meant to show the document to the Empress, but Napoleon 
kept it, answering in the manner stated. We also think it 
probable that he enjoined secrecy, even as he had done in 
Larrey's case in 1865. At all events he did not intend to act 
on the report at once; his hands Avere now too full, that 
Hohenzollern affair, which had sprung up since the considtation, 
must be settled before he could submit to medical treatment ; 
and thus it came to pass that the report was suppressed, hidden 
away, and only became known when the original was found 
among Napoleon's papers, and Dr. See sent his original draft 
to U Union Medicale for publication. 

For the consequences which followed the suppression of 
the report. Napoleon himself must primarily be blamed; but 
Conneau, in obeying the master to whom he was so devoted, 
was guilty of a grievous error of judgment. It may be that 
when he submitted the report to the Emperor, the latter told 
him that he would show it to the Empress himself; neverthe- 
less, during the fateful fortnight which ensued, the doctor, who 



WAR AND REVOLUTION 395 

knew the truth, ought to have intervened. He could not have 
prevented the war, for Prussia was resolved on it — she was not 
going to allow Napoleon time to mature his coalition plans — 
but he might have prevented the Emperor from assuming 
command. Further, Avhy did not See himself and Ricord, 
Fauvel, Corvisart, and Nelaton speak out directly they saw the 
Emperor assuming command ? They must have known that 
he was unfit for such work, yet they made no protest. The 
doctrine of "professional secrecy" seems to have overridden 
every other consideration, the interests of the Emperor person- 
ally, those of the Empire, and particularly those of France. 
Baron Corvisart, for his part, was not satisfied with keeping 
his mouth shut, he even participated in the folly of the course 
taken by Napoleon, for he accompanied him on the campaign, 
and was with him still at Sedan. Both Emile Ollivier and his 
colleague Maurice Richard, Minister of Fine Arts, afterwards 
told Darimon that had the truth about the Emperor's illness 
been known to them, he would not have been allowed to join 
the army of the Rhine, but would have been kept in Paris; 
apart from which particular point, the report of the doctors 
would have exercised the greatest influence on every Govern- 
ment decision respecting the war. 

As we have said, Prussia was bent on hostilities. The 
revival of a Hohenzollern candidature to the throne of Spain 
was, so to say, the answer to Lebrun's mission to Vienna, 
respecting which Bismarck had received full information from 
the Hungarian Ministers of the time, who, being opposed to 
the projected coalition, betrayed both Austria and France 
to the Prussian Chancellor. He then deliberately prepared 
that second Hohenzollern candidature, and hurled it at amazed 
France — amazed because it imagined that the project had been 
definitely shelved the previous year. 

We have not space to enter in any detail into the story 
of what ensued. To put the case briefly, if rather crudely, 
France objected to the presence of a Prussian Prince on the 
Spanish throne, and demanded the withdrawal of the candi- 
dature, as she had done already the previous year. Thereupon 
the candidature was again withdrawn. Then, as this was the 
second attempt of the kind, France requested of the King of 



396 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Prussia, as head of his House, a pledge that there should be 
no further renewal of such a candidature. That pledge King 
William refused to give, and war followed. With respect to 
some other points, we doubt whether the Empress Eugenie, 
to whom some have assigned so much responsibility, unduly 
hurried on what had become inevitable. We do not believe 
that she ever called it ma guerre a moi. We think also, as 
Trochu generously remarks in his " Memoirs," that Marshal 
Leboeuf, the War Minister, honestly believed that France was 
in a position to take the field. Further, whatever may be 
in some respects our opinion of M. Emile OUivier, however 
inexcusable may have been his remark about embarking on the 
war with a light heart, we readily acknowledge that the war 
was not brought about by him. He wished to preserve peace, 
he was at one moment even hopeful of doing so, and he was 
not even present at that fateful night-meeting at St. Cloud 
when the decisive step of ordering the mobilization of the 
army was taken. He only heard of that decision the next 
morning. 

On the actual diplomatic methods of the Duke de Gramont, 
the Foreign Minister, and his subordinate Benedetti, the French 
ambassador at Berlin, during the incidents which immediately 
preceded hostilities, some rather severe strictures might be passed. 
As for the Duke's public statement respecting the co-operation 
of Austria, that, we think, was made in good faith. It is true 
that according to existing arrangements Austria was not to 
co-operate until 1871, and that as M. de Gramont subsequently 
admitted, " she was painfully surprised by the haste of France 
in declaring war ; " nevertheless, there were serious reasons for 
believing that she would co-operate despite the fact that events 
had been precipitated. We have also M. de Chaudordy's state- 
ments about the negotiations which took place between Paris, 
Vienna and Florence between July 20 and August 4, in accord- 
ance with which Austria and Italy would have intervened on or 
about September 15, provided that a French army should by 
that time have crossed the Rhine, invaded southern Germany 
and reached Munich, there to join hands with the Austrian 
and Italian forces.* Those assertions may have been denied — 

* Enquete sur le Governement du 4 Septembre : Deposition de M. de 
Chaudordy. 



WAR AND REVOLUTION S9T 

by Beust and others, denials sometimes being necessary — but 
M. de Chaudordy did not speak without authority. 

The French, however, failed to cross the Rhine. The lack 
of method and the great delay in their mobilization, with 
the low strength of their effectives, presaged no good result. 
Three years previously Frossard had planned a campaign for 
450,000 men, three months previously Lebrun had promised 
Archduke Albert 400,000; but only 243,000 was the actual 
strength of the forces gathered in Alsace-Lorraine in August, 
1870, and the mobilization had occupied thrice the time it 
should have done. Moreover, repeated defeats fell on the 
Emperor's armies and shattered all hope of a coalition. Italy 
seems to have been the first to break away, and Austria, 
confronted by a situation so different from what had been 
anticipated, relinquished any idea of intervention. 

On July 27, Napoleon, leaving the Empress behind him as 
Regent, quitted the chateau of St. Cloud with his young son. 
A special train was in readiness at a siding in the park. The 
great dignitaries of the Empire, the senators and others, were 
present to take leave of the sovereign. The Emperor appeared 
quite calm; the young Prince showed some excitement; the 
Empress was plainly affected, her eyes were moist. Among the 
escort accompanying Napoleon to the headquarters of the army 
of the Rhine at Metz was Dr. Baron Corvisart, who, knowing 
the truth about the Emperor's condition, had with him a case 
of instruments for use if any operation should become urgent. 
On Auo;ust 2 came the eno;ao;ement of Saarbriicken, at which 
the young Prince received the baptism of fire. When the 
affair was over, General Lebrun, noticing that the Emperor had 
great difficulty in alighting from his horse, proffered assistance. 
Napoleon took his arm, and as they walked towards a carriage 
some fifty paces away, Lebrun remarked : " Your Majesty 
seems to be unwell." " My dear general," replied the Emperor, 
stifling a moan, " I am suffering horribly." Thus it was that 
aide-de-camp Lebrun first heard of Napoleon's malady. In a 
similar way its extreme seriousness only came about this time 
to the knowledge of M. Pietri, Napoleon's private secretary, 
who, on August 7, after a conversation with the Emperor on 
the subject, telegraphed to the Empress advising that the 



398 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Emperor should return to Paris and leave Bazaine in chief 
command. But at that moment the defeats of Weissenburg, 
Speichern, and Worth had followed each other in swift succes- 
sion, and the Empress replied that the consequences of the 
Emperor"'s return after such reverses ought to be considered, 
and that should he decide to go back to Paris, the country must 
be given to understand that he only did so provisionally, in 
order to organize a second army, and had left Bazaine merely 
as temporary commander of the army of the Rhine. 

The position in Paris, where only a few weeks previously 
the war had been so frantically acclaimed by thoughtless folk, 
was certainly becoming difficult. Already, on the evening of 
August 6, at the first news of MacMahon's overwhelming 
defeat at Worth, the Empress had hurried from St. Cloud to 
the Tuileries, where a long night-council was held. On the 
morrow, while issuing a proclamation exhorting the Parisians 
to be firm and preserve order, she declared a state of siege in 
the capital. Then, on the 9th, the Ollivier Ministry was over- 
thrown by the Chamber, and replaced by an administration 
under General Cousin-Montauban, Count de Palikao, who, as 
commander in China several years previously, had looted the 
Summer Palace of Pekin. His colleagues were all Bonapartists, 
chiefly of the younger school. On the morrow (August 10) 
came the news that Strasburg was invested ; on the 12th we 
heard that Nancy was occupied. Now it was that, in com- 
pliance with the clamour of the anti-dynastic party, the 
unhappy, ailing Emperor was deposed from the chief command 
and replaced by Bazaine, respecting whose military abilities 
there was such extraordinary infatuation. Fate was on the 
march. Paris was becoming more and more excited, more and 
more uncontrollable. 

On August 14, a few hours after there had been some rioting 
at La Villette, the last reception of the reign was held at the 
Tuileries. The Empress appeared at it garbed in black net 
with a jet diadem, and every lady present was in the deepest 
mourning for the reverses of France. Even the Court footmen 
and other officials wore black, only the military men retaining 
their uniforms. The affair at La Villette was, perhaps, the chief 
subject of conversation at that gathering, but there was some 



WAR AND REVOLUTION 399 

hopefulness with respect to the war now that Bazaine had the 
supreme control, and that the withdrawal of his army from Metz 
had been decided on. Matters would soon improve when the 
Marshal and his men were in the open — such was the prevailing 
impression. But, as we know, the situation went from bad to 
worse. On August 14 Napoleon quitted Metz; on the 16th 
Vionville-Mars-la-Tour was fought, and Bazaine's retreat 
stopped; and on the 18th, after fighting for nine hours at 
St. Privat-Gravelotte, he was driven back under the great 
stronghold of Lorraine. 

In Paris, that same day, General Trochu stepped upon the 
scene. There had been a demand that he should be made Minister 
of War, but the post assigned to him was that of Governor of 
the capital. As Minister at that stage it is improbable that he 
could have retrieved the situation ; but had he held the post at 
the very outset his services might have proved most valuable, 
for he was a born organizer. At the time of the Crimean War 
the French forces might well have found themselves in the same 
plight as the English if Trochu, after assembling certain 
colleagues at the War Ministry, had not exerted himself in 
selecting the units of the expedition, planning staff arrange- 
ments, attending to the proper equipment of the men, and 
providing them with all necessaries — accomplishing, in fact, 
quite a totir deforce, for France was at that time no more pre- 
pared for war than she was in 1870. Trochu again proved his 
talent as an organizer during the siege of Paris, when he 
improvised so much, when he so often turned nothing into 
something, and made, if not a successful, at least an extremely 
honourable defence. 

Unfortunately, after St. Arnaud's death, Trochu was dis- 
trusted by the Empire. A Breton, born in 1815, he had been 
a great favourite with Louis Philippe's Marshal, Bugeaud, and 
having refused a Court appointment from Napoleon III., he was 
suspected of Orleanism. Moreover, his repeated criticisms of 
French army methods long gave offence in high places. He 
had his limitations, and he knew them ; he had never exercised 
more than a divisional command in the field (Italy, 1859), and 
it was because he felt unequal to field duties that he never com- 
manded in person at the sorties during the Paris siege. But in 



400 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

an office or a camp he was admirable, an adept in laying down 
sound rules, in preparing, providing for requirements. Again, 
he was not the man to cope with a popular rising, and in that 
respect he was not fit for the post of Military Governor of 
Paris. If he did not save the Empire on the 4th of September, 
neither did he save himself and his National Defence colleagues 
on the 31st of October, during the siege days, when he and they 
were shut up at the H6tel-de-Ville, at the mercy of a Communist 
insurrection. The rescue which was effected was the work of 
a civilian, Jules Ferry. 

At the same time, if the Empress-Regent had placed more 
confidence in Trochu instead of steadily alienating him, he 
might at least have attempted to save the Empire at the 
Revolution, though we doubt if any one, any St. Arnaud or 
Magnan or Canrobert, could really have saved the regime 
that day, even if the Empress had been willing, which she 
was not, to have the people cannonaded as at the Coup d'Etat. 
However, as Trochu bitterly complains in his Memoirs, he was 
treated by the Empress with suspicion and distrust from the 
moment of his appointment. He was to have been followed to 
Paris by the Emperor, and MacMahon's army was to have 
retreated on the capital to recruit its strength and cover the 
city. But when Trochu informed the Empress of those plans — 
agreed upon at a conference held at Chalons between the 
Emperor, Rouher, Prince Napoleon, MacMahon, Schmitz, and 
Trochu himself — she opposed them violently, saying, " Those 
who advised the Emperor to adopt those plans are enemies. 
The Emperor shall not return ; he would not return alive. As 
for the army of Chalons [MacMahon's] it must effect its 
junction with the army of Metz."* 

That policy prevailed. The unlucky army of Chalons 
started on its march to relieve Metz, where Bazaine was now 
shut up, just as the bombardment of Strasburg was beginning. 
MacMahon led his forces from Chalons to Rethel, thence in the 
direction of Montmedy. But the Germans followed them, 
came up with them, routed the corps under General de Failly 
at Beaumont, and forced MacMahon and the others on Sedan, 
where the supreme catastrophe fell upon them. The unhappy 
* TroclLU, "Le Si^ge de Paris," etc., Mame, Tours. 



WAR AND REVOLUTION 401 

Emperor, who, forbidden to return to Paris, had accompanied 
his troops on that anxious, difficult, terrible march, sought 
death on the field, and when death refused to take him, made 
a last supreme assertion of his authority, ordered the white flag 
to be hoisted, and tendered his sword to the Prussian King. 

The Empress Eugenie has been violently attacked by scores 
of writers for preventing the return of the Emperor and 
MacMahon to Paris. It has even been said repeatedly that 
she deliberately sacrificed her husband to the chance of saving 
the Empire for her son. This narrative has shown that 
Napoleon was no faithful husband, and that his consort had 
real grievances against him. But we do not believe that she 
sacrificed him in the way and for the purpose alleged. We 
hold that she was quite sincere when she said to Trochu that 
the Emperor would not return to Paris alive — meaning, of 
course, that he would be killed if he returned. We were in 
Paris at the time, and the unpopularity into which the Emperor 
had fallen by reason of all the reverses inflicted on the French 
arms, was of such a nature that, even if he had come back at 
the same moment as Trochu (by whose sudden popularity he 
was to have been covered) we doubt if Trochu could have saved 
him. Trochu, as already stated, was not the man to contend 
with mobs. And the Emperor's return, and the knowledge 
that MacMahon's forces were returning also — abandoning 
Bazaine to his fate — would have been like a match applied 
to tinder; and in the sudden blaze, the sudden outburst of 
popular indignation and wrath. Emperor, Empress, and Empire 
would have been immediately swept away. Briefly, the Fourth 
of September would now be known as the Eighteenth of August. 
By the course which the Empress took, then, she did not 
sacrifice her husband, she hoped to save the Empire. As it 
happened, she was only able to prolong the agony for fourteen 
days. 

On the other hand, from the military standpoint, the retreat 
of MacMahon on Paris would certainly have been the best 
course. But the Empress, haunted, not without reason, by 
the thought of Revolution, held, no doubt, that even such a 
retreat would have sufficed to stir it up — so acute, so urgent 
was the anxiety for Bazaine and Metz, so foul and so odious 

2d 



402 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

would it have seemed to Paris, at that moment, if the Marshal 
and the fortress had been abandoned. Besides, if only 
MacMahon and his men had returned to the capital, what 
could have been done with the Emperor ? The situation was 
perplexing, full of serious difficulties, and it is because we know 
that such was the case, that, unlike some others, we bring no 
charges against the Empress with respect to the course she 
followed. It is always easy to fling accusations, it is often 
difficult to substantiate them. 

Many accounts testify that the Empress, from the time of 
her sudden return from St. Cloud to the Tuileries, was haunted, 
as we have mentioned, by the thought of Revolution. If, before 
all else, she had to discharge her duty to the country, she also 
had to perform her duty to the dynasty, whose interests she, 
as Regent, held in trust. The vigilance of the Prefect of Police 
was not relaxed until the last hour. The expiring Empire was 
not uninformed of the planning and scheming of the anti- 
dynastic party, which was so watchfully awaiting its oppor- 
tunity to seize the reins of government. " Let us destroy the 
Empire first, we will see about the country afterwards," was the 
motto of too many of the men who subsequently paraded as 
zealous patriots. All that was known at the Tuileries, and 
apprehension was natural. The Empress, so it has been said, 
particularly feared that revolution might break out during the 
night, and always felt disturbed when evening fell. In addition 
to the military guard, many detectives were on duty around 
the palace, never losing sight of the Republican spies by whom 
it was watched. There was no actual conflict, we think, each 
side was content to remain e7i observation. 

With or without the Empress''s knowledge and assent 
various schemes for assuring her safety in the event of an out- 
break were devised. One plan provided for a temporary retreat 
at a Paris convent, whose lady-superior was most willing to be 
of service. There were moments, however, when the Regent 
shook off* her apprehensions, and when the question of pursuing 
a vigorous policy towards the Parisian malcontents was mooted 
at the Tuileries. More than once it was proposed to have 
certain leaders arrested, but hesitation invariably supervened, 
and the question was postponed. 



WAR AND HEVOLUTION 403 

The decisive moment came with the catastrophe of Sedan. 
Though the Empress did not receive direct tidings from 
Napoleon until four o*'clock on the afternoon of September 3, 
the truth was known to the Government on the afternoon of 
the previous day, and both Thiers and Jules Favre became 
acquainted with it the same evening. Thiers was vainly 
implored by Prince Metternich, in conjunction with Merimee, 
to take office and save both France and the Empire; but he 
refused his services, even as on the morrow, September 3, he 
refused to place himself at the head of the Republicans as 
he was begged to do by Favre, Simon, Ferry, Picard, and 
others of the Opposition. It was then and then only that the 
anti-dynastic leaders really turned to Trochu. 

In the Legislative Body, on the afternoon of September 3, 
Count de Palikao, the Prime Minister, would only admit that 
MacMahon had been compelled to retreat to Sedan, and that 
a small body of his troops had sought refuge in Belgium ; but 
at a night sitting which was held some hours later, there could 
be no further concealment of the truth which Thiers and Favre 
had already conveyed to many colleagues. Besides, it had also 
begun to circulate through Paris, and during the evening 
people flocked to the Palais Bourbon, many of them already 
crying : " Dethronement ! dethronement ! " On the Boulevards 
the excitement was general, and a foolhardy attack was even 
made on a police-station there, whereupon the police charged 
the crowd with their swords quite as energetically as they had 
ever done in the days of the Empire's power. Many people 
then hurried to Trochu's quarters at the Louvre to protest 
against the brutality of the police, while others assembled 
on the Place de la Concorde to discuss the position and insist 
on the Emperor's abdication. When, about two o'clock in the 
morning (September 4), the night-sitting of the Chamber ended, 
and the many vehicles containing ministers, deputies, and 
journalists came rolling across the square, a strong force of 
cavalry suddenly swept out of the Palais de I'lndustrie in the 
Champs Elysees, where it had been quartered since the after- 
noon, and cantering hither and thither, threw the procession of 
conveyances into confusion and scattered the spectators. In a 
quarter of an hour everybody had been driven from the spot, 



404 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

and the energy of the troops, following that of the police, 
seemed to indicate that any attempt at Revolution after day- 
break would be speedily put down. At that moment, then, 
quietude prevailed in Paris ; but the Republicans had not lost 
their time during the evening, nor did they lose the remaining 
hours of the night. The word went round that everybody 
must turn up early in the afternoon, as soon as the Chamber 
should assemble, and the Palais Bourbon was the appointed 
rendezvous. Briefly, although the events which followed were 
not exactly organized, the movement was not so spontaneous as 
some have imagined. 

Bright and clear was that Sunday, September 4. There is 
just a possibility that if rain had poured in torrents there might 
have been no Revolution. It could not have been prevented 
by bloodshed, we think, and the Empress was right in refusing 
to sanction extreme measures. She had presided over a Minis- 
terial Council at the Tuileries shortly before the night-sitting 
of the Legislative Body, and a proclamation had then been 
agreed upon, as well as a proposal for a Committee of Defence, 
which proposal was met in the Chamber by more or less revo- 
lutionary ones emanating from the Republicans and Orleanists. 
After the council many of the great dignitaries arrived at the 
palace, and only at a late hour was the Empress left with her 
immediate entourage. She took very little rest. At six 
o'clock on the morning of the 4th she was up and about, 
visiting the ambulance which she had installed in the palace 
playhouse. Afterwards, repairing to her little oratory, she 
heard mass, subsequently conversing with the chaplain, and 
supplying him, in her usual way, with money for necessitous 
cases. By that time General de Palikao and the other ministers 
had arrived, as well as several members of the Privy Council, 
including Rouher ; and the course to be pursued at the after- 
noon sittings of the Chamber and Senate was then discussed at 
length, Rouher taking a leading part in the deliberations. 
Lunch was served about half-past eleven, some twenty-eight 
persons sitting down to table with the Empress, as the service 
d'honneur whose week ended that day was present as well as 
the service which was to replace it. The only guest, however, 
was Ferdinand de Lesseps. There was no departure from any 



WAR AND REVOLUTION 405 

of the ordinary etiquette, though the anxiety of everybody was 
keen. Despatches arrived at every moment, now from the 
Prefecture of Police, now from the Ministry of War, now from 
that of the Interior. Most of them referred to the gravity of 
the situation in Paris, and proposed or suggested measures for 
subduing any popular rising. In that respect the Empress's 
authorization was requested ; but she would give none. " Any- 
thing rather than civil war," was her invariable answer. 

From time to time various visitors, people more or less 
attached to the Court, arrived, one and all of them bringing 
increasingly serious tidings respecting the disposition of the 
Parisians. It became known that bands of people were march- 
ing about, already shouting, " Dethronement ! Dethronement ! " 
and " Long live the Republic ! " At last some troops suddenly 
appeared on the Place du Carrousel, and others in the reserved 
garden of the palace. They were all men of the Imperial 
Guard, led by devoted officers. Next, however, National Guards 
were seen streaming along the quays and the Rue de Rivoli 
towards the Palais Bourbon and the Place de la Concorde. On 
they huri'ied, like the advanced guard of Revolution. But a 
diversion came, for all at once the Third Party, the Orleanist 
deputies of the Legislative Body, appeared upon the scene, 
seeking audience of the Empress. They were headed by Count 
Daru, who, although a godson of the great Napoleon, wished 
to pick the crown of France out of the blood and mire of Sedan 
to present it to the Count de Paris. A scholarly but despic- 
able man, this Daru subsequently penned for the National 
Assembly of Versailles some of the most mendacious reports 
ever presented to any parliament. And in that hour of France's 
grievous misfortune the chief object, the great craving, of Daru 
and his friends was the crown for their Prince, the crown at all 
costs, at all hazards. Entering the room where the deputies 
were assembled, the Empress greeted them with a sad smile, 
and they talked to her of — abdication. She answered them, 
proudly enough, that the Ministers were in office to propose 
whatever measures might be necessary in the interest of France, 
and that if they deemed abdication necessary, it would be 
signed. They were her constitutional advisers, and she was in 
their hands. 



406 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

In our earlier chapters we have not hesitated to express 
an unfavourable opinion of much of the Empress"'s influence in 
politics, with regard notably to Italy and Rome. Let us now 
say that on the day of Revolution she displayed a dignity and 
fortitude entitling her to all respect. Her interview with the 
Orleanist deputies was brought to an end by the arrival of a 
Prefect of the Palace, who had witnessed the preliminaries of 
the invasion of the Palais Bourbon, and of a Chamberlain who 
had observed the aggressive tendencies of the huge crowd 
assembled on the Place de la Concorde. Moreover, on a window 
being opened, the distant roar of " Vive la Republique ! " could 
be distinctly heard. Perhaps the Third Party was alarmed by 
those tidings and those cries ; at all events, it withdrew, looking 
worried and perplexed. The whole affair was extremely charac- 
teristic of Orleanism. Louis Philippe's sons and grandsons were 
mostly gallant men, and it is a curious phenomenon that the 
political supporters of the house should have been, with few 
exceptions, so different. 

The Empress evinced some sadness after the departure of 
the deputation, then became rather excited on learning that the 
imperial eagles were already being struck off" some of the public 
buildings of Paris. All the Ladies of the Palace who happened 
to be in the city were now with her. Marshal Pelissier's 
widow and Marshal Canrobert's wife had arrived together at 
an early hour. No officer of the Household was absent. Several 
usually attached to the Emperor"'s person presented themselves, 
eager to render service, some of the younger ones being pro- 
vided with revolvers for use if the palace should be invaded 
and an affray occur. Princess Clotilde also came over from 
the Palais Royal, and there was a brief, touching scene between 
her and the Empress. Next a few foreign diplomatists arrived, 
including Prince Metternich, who looked extremely affected, 
and Chevalier Nigra, who was as calm, as debonair, as usual. 
They, like every other new arrival, hastened to kiss the hand 
of the Empress, whose emotion became more and more apparent. 
Finally, a little before two o''clock, a few Ministers, notably 
Chevreau and Jerome David, and various deputies, hurried in 
with news of the invasion of the Palais Bourbon by the crowd, 
and the proclamation of the Republic on its steps. The leaders 



WAR AND REVOLUTION 407 

of the Revolution were now hastening to the Hotel de Ville to 
act likewise there. Thus all was virtually over. The Empress 
conferred for a moment with General Mellinet, who commanded 
the troops guarding the palace, repeating to him her orders 
that there was to be no bloodshed, and adding that she was 
about to depart. She then gave her hand to those officials 
to whom she had not previously bidden farewell, and turning 
to her ladies, exclaimed, "Do not stay any longer; there is 
little time left." Tears started from many eyes, and all her 
ladies clustered round her, kissing and pressing her hands. 
" Go, go, I beg you ! " the Empress repeated with emotion ; 
and now, for the first time, it seemed as if she would break 
down. But finally the ladies, reluctantly enough, many of 
them sobbing, withdrew — that is, all did so excepting Mme. de 
La Poeze, who, like Count Artus de Cosse-Brissac, the Chamber- 
lain, was one of the last to leave the palace. 

But the Empress herself had retired to the further end of 
the salon, and after pausing there and bracing herself for a 
moment, she bowed to the whole gathering with the stately, 
solemn bow of impressive occasions. Then, turning hurriedly 
to hide her twitching face, she withdrew to her private apart- 
ments, accompanied by Prince Metternich, Chevalier Nigra, and 
Mme. Lebreton, who had succeeded Mme. Carette as her reader. 
M. de Cosse-Brissac next faced the assembled officers, and said 
to them : "Messieurs, her Majesty thanks you, and invites you 
to withdraw." There was some little hesitation, and before 
the order was obeyed the Chamberlain had to assure his col- 
leagues and friends that their further presence could serve no 
useful purpose. As he himself at last went out, an usher 
showed him the audience book, in which were inscribed the 
names of all who had called at the palace that day. The 
man wished to know what was to be done with it. " Give 
it to me," replied M. de Cosse-Brissac ; and taking the book, 
he tore from it all the pages on which names were inscribed, 
and put them in his pocket, remarking, "They would only 
serve as food for abuse and slander if they were left here." 

The incidents of the Empress"'s departure have been so often 
and so minutely described, that we need merely mention that 
she quitted the palace virtually unobserved, accompanied by 



408 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

Mme. Lebreton, and escorted by the Ambassadors of Austria 
and Italy, who were desirous of protecting her from insult. A 
vehicle was procured, and she safely reached the residence of 
her dentist. Dr. Evans, whose Memoirs contain a full account 
of the affair. Next the Empress made her way to Trouville, 
and crossed over to England on Sir John Burgoyne's little 
yacht. The Gazelle. 

The Court of the Tuileries had ceased to exist, and the 
palace itself was to last but a few months longer. As in our 
first chapter we gave some account of its origin, we here append 
a brief narrative of its fate. 

****** 

During the siege of Paris, after the fall of the Empire, the 
Tuileries garden served as an artillery bivouac, and the palace 
was chiefly employed for ambulance purposes — the ambulance 
which the Empress had previously installed in the playhouse 
being enlarged. A committee, which the Government of 
National Defence appointed to examine such of the imperial 
papers as had not been removed or destroyed prior to the 
Revolution, also met at the Tuileries, in the Emperor's private 
rooms. One of the principal members of that committee was 
M. Jules Claretie, whose distinguished career, marked by high 
integrity as well as ability, supplies sufficient answer to the 
charge that documents were tampered with for purposes of 
publication — a charge occasionally preferred by one or another 
interested party during recent years. There can be no doubt 
at all that the publications of the Government of National 
Defence were quite genuine, though undoubtedly they were 
incomplete. Circumstances interrupted both scrutiny and 
publication ; and ultimately the bulk of the papers perished 
in the conflagration of the palace. Few further documentary 
revelations respecting what one may call the secret side of the 
Second Empire can therefore be expected, until, if ever, the 
collections of the Empress Eugenie are given to the world. 

Immediately after the rising of the Commune of Paris on 
March 18, 1871, an ex-soldier of Chasseurs d'Afrique, named 
Dardelle, was appointed military governor of the Tuileries. He 
quartered himself in the fine rooms formerly occupied by the 
Duke de Bassano, the Imperial Great Chamberlain, collected a 



FATE OF THE PALACE 409 

number of people around him, and frequently entertained them 
at dinners and dances. Being musically inclined, he also often 
charmed his leisure moments by executing fantasias on the 
chapel organ. At this time, for the small admission fee of half 
a franc, anybody might visit the state apartments of the palace 
between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. ; and early in May it occurred to 
Dr. Rousselle, a prominent partisan of the Commune, who 
modestly entitled himself " Chief Surgeon of the Universal 
Republic," that concerts for the benefit of wounded National 
Guards might well be held at the Tuileries. That idea was 
adopted, and every Thursday and Sunday concerts took place, 
simultaneously, in the Salle des Marechaux, the palace playhouse, 
and the Galerie de Diane. The number of performers in the 
various orchestras varied according to the dimensions of the 
apartments, in one or another of which the artistes sang or 
recited alternately. The charge for admission ranged from half 
a franc to five francs, the latter being the tariff in the Salle des 
Marechaux, where a large stage was erected, adorned with 
crimson velvet draperies, fringed with bullion, and spangled 
"with the gold bees of the Bonapartes — these hangings having 
been taken from the imperial throne-room and other apart- 
ments. The rooms blazed with wax candles derived from the 
palace stores; the audiences were numerous and enthusiastic; 
refreshments, chiefly red wine and eau-de-vie, were procurable 
at moderate charges ; and there was any amount of smoking, 
— clay pipes, however, being far more numerous than cigars. 
Each performance, which naturally began and ended with the 
" Marseillaise,"" included recitations of revolutionary passages 
in the poems of Victor Hugo and Auguste Barbier, with a 
medley of patriotic and socialistic songs. Mile. Agar, sometime 
of the Comedie Franpaise, was the chief reciter, the leading 
vocalist being the Citoyenne Bordas, previously of the Grand 
Concert Parisien, who invariably raised the enthusiasm of the 
audiences to the highest pitch by the manner in which she 
thundered forth the refrain of her famous song — 

" C'est la canaille ! Eh bien, j'en suis ! " 

Besides those concerts, there were occasional /c^g.? de nuit in 
the reserved garden of the palace, when countless red and white 



410 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

lamps glowed amid the shrubberies and orange-trees, while 
round the orchestra swaggered the military dignitaries of the 
Commune, the ex-hatters, ex-chemists, ex-compositors, and 
others, all displaying plenty of gold braid on the sleeves of 
their tunics. They were often accompanied by their ladies, 
wives or demi-wives, as the case might be. 

The last of the concerts took place on the evening of Sunday^ 
May 21, while the columns of the army of Versailles under 
Marshal MacMahon were stealthily advancing into Paris. 
That same day or night (there is some doubt on the point) 
" General " Bergeret, one of the chief commanders under the 
Commune, quitted his quarters at the Palais Bourbon, and 
came to the Tuileries, with all his staff. The eventual entry 
of the regular troops had been foreseen, and the approaches 
to the palace were defended by powerful batteries and huge 
barricades. Of the latter the most formidable and elaborate 
arose at the corner of the Rue de Rivoli and the Rue St. 
Florentin. It was quite five and twenty feet high, constructed 
largely of masonry, and defended by two or three guns. There 
was another barricade on the Quai de la Conference, and 
another near the moat separating the reserved garden of the 
palace from the public one ; while on the terrace overlooking 
the Place de la Concorde a powerful battery was planted. On 
May 22, MacMahon''s troops having reached the Arc de 
Triomphe atop of the Champs Elysees, a detachment of his 
artillery took up position there, and the Avenue des Champs 
Elysees was soon swept by the joint fire of the Versaillese guns 
and the Tuileries batteries. 

While this duel was in progress eleven vans belonging to 
the Crown Furniture service arrived at the Tuileries by way 
of the Place du Carrousel. They contained furniture, papers, 
and works of art previously removed from M. Thiers"'s house in 
the Place St. Georges, which had been demolished by order of 
the Commune. The vans, whose contents were piled up in 
various ground-floor grooms, may merely have arrived at the 
Tuileries that day by a coincidence, but if so it was a strange 
one. Meantime, as we have said, the artillery fire was con- 
tinuing on both sides. Great caution was invariably observed 
by the Versaillese throughout the street-fighting of that Bloody 



FATE OF THE PALACE 411 

Week which had now begun. Not a single barricade in Paris 
was taken by any infantry frontal attack ; all the Communist 
positions were seized by flanking movements. Thus about five 
o'clock on Tuesday, May S3, some of the batteries defending 
the Tuileries having been silenced, and the troops having con- 
trived to seize the Palais de ITndustrie and the Elysee, a 
detachment, passing by way of the Madeleine, was able to turn 
the great barricade at the corner of the Rue de Rivoli, which 
they found abandoned. During the artillery duel some damage 
had been done on the Place de la Concorde and among the 
statuary in the Tuileries gardens ; and the partisans of the 
Commune have asserted more than once that the palace itself 
was set on fire by Versaillese shells. 

There is, however, abundant evidence to the contrary. In 
the course of May 23 several vehicles carrying barrels of gun- 
powder arrived at the Tuileries by way of the court of the 
Louvre and the Carrousel. In the afternoon General Bero-eret 
repaired to the Hotel de Ville, where the Committee of Public 
Safety was sitting. On his return to the palace he assembled 
his principal officers, who included notably a certain Victor 
Benot, an ex-private in the 10th of the Line, who had become 
a lieutenant in the National Guard during the German siege, 
and had risen to a colonelcy under the Commune. Another 
was a "Captain'' Etienne Boudin, a bibulous individual, 
formerly a hatter, we believe, who had seized 900 bottles of 
wine in the Tuileries cellars and shared them with his comrades. 
Other men, named Madeuf and Servat, whose exact rank is not 
certain, a Pole, "Colonel" Kaweski, and Dardelle, whom we 
have previously mentioned, also attended Bergerefs council, 
in addition to the latter's immediate staff-officers. It seems 
certain that Bergeret had received positive orders from the 
Committee of Public Safety to set the Tuileries on fire — there 
is only a faint possibility that he may have acted on his own 
initiative. In either case, he informed the others that the palace 
must be destroyed. To Dardelle he assigned the duty of 
removing all the materiel de guerre which the Commune might 
still require, while Benot and Boudin willingly, if not eagerly, 
accepted the task of firing the palace. Not only had gun- 
powder been brought to the Tuileries during the day, there 



412 THE COURT OF THE TUH^ERIES 

were also some barrels of liquid tar there, and these, as well 
as a quantity of turpentine, were used by Boudin in preparing 
the Pavilion Marsan for the conflagration. He, like Benot, was 
assisted by several acolytes, and with the help of the many pails 
and brooms in the palace, the hangings, floorings, woodwork, 
and furniture of numerous apartments were coated with tar or 
drenched with petroleum. In the chief vestibule Benot placed 
three barrels of gunpowder, while two or three others were 
hoisted up the well of the grand staircase and then rolled into 
the Salle des Marechaux, where several cases of cartridges, some 
shells, and other ammunition were disposed. Other barrels of 
powder were broken open, and the contents scattered about 
the ground-floor rooms. Trains also were laid, notably one 
extending to the courtyard, and this was fired by Benot when 
everybody had quitted the palace. 

It was about ten o'clock when all was ready. The Versaillese 
seldom, if ever, stirred after dusk during that terrible week. 
They remained on the positions they had gained during the 
day. Had they been quicker in their movements, the week 
might have been reduced to three days, and many of the 
buildings of Paris might have been saved. On the other hand, 
no doubt, the casualties would have been much more numerous. 
On the evening of May 23 the National Guards still occupied 
the garden of the Tuileries, the barricade near the ditch, and 
the quay alongside the Seine. They were spread there en 
tirailleurs, ready to oppose the advance of the Versaillese, should 
the latter attempt to push forward beyond the corner of the 
Hue St. Florentin. Others, too, were strongly entrenched in the 
Ministry of Finances in the Rue de Rivoli, and defended it 
throughout the night, every effort being made to check the 
advance of the troops until the conflagration of the Tuileries 
should be beyond remedy. As for Bergeret and his staff', they 
retired to the Louvre barracks, and it was there, about ten 
o"'clock or a little later, that Benot joined them, announcing 
that the Tuileries was alight. 

The whole company sat down to supper, ate well and 
drank heavily. Towards midnight, after coffee had been served, 
Benot invited the others to admire his work. They went out 
on to the terrace of the Louvre and saw the Tuileries blazing. 



FATE OF THE PALACE 413 

Flames were already darting from the windows of the great 
fapade— over twelve hundred feet in length; and if at times there 
came a pause in the violence of the fire, the ruddy glow which 
every opening of the building revealed, was a sufficient sign that 
the conflagration had by no means subsided. At last a score 
of tongues of flame leapt suddenly through the collapsing roof, 
reddening the great canopy of smoke which hovered above 
the pile. The flames seemed to travel from either end of the 
palace towards the central cupola-crowned pavilion, where 
Benot, an artist in his way, had designedly placed most of his 
combustibles and explosives ; and at about two o'clock in the 
morning Bergeret's officers were startled, almost alarmed, by a 
terrific explosion which shook all the surrounding district. 
Many rushed to ascertain what had happened, and on facing 
the Tuileries, they saw that the flames were now rising in a 
great sheaf from the central pavilion, whose cupola had been 
thrown into the air, whence it fell in blazing fragments, while 
millions of sparks rose, rained, or rushed hither and thither, 
imparting to the awful spectacle much the aspect of a bouquet 
of fireworks, such as usually terminates a great pyrotechnical 
display. 

" It is nothing," said Bergeret to those of his men whom 
the explosion had alarmed. " It is only the palace blowing 
up." And taking a pencil, he wrote : " The last vestiges of 
Royalty have just disappeared. I wish that the same may 
befall all the public buildings of Paris." That note he handed 
to a young man named Victor Thomas, who was a nephew of 
the General Clement Thomas shot by the Communards on the 
18th of March, but who, curiously enough, was serving the 
insurrection, in spite of his uncle's fate. Thomas, who personally 
witnessed what we have described, carried the note to the 
Committee of Public Safety at the Hotel de Ville. When he 
returned to the Louvre, Bergeret had disappeared. 

Victor Benot, being subsequently taken prisoner, was tried 
by a Council of War and convicted not only of his deeds at the 
Tuileries, but also of having helped to set fire to the library of 
the Louvre — the old library of the sovereigns of France, which 
contained 40,000 volumes, valuable not only by reason of their 
contents but also of their bindings, which comprised many of 



414 THE COURT OF THE TUILERIES 

the finest examples of the bookbinder's art in France. Benot 
was condemned to death, but on the ground that he had acted 
under Bergeret's orders, his sentence was commuted to one of 
transportation to New Caledonia for life. 

What Benot did not do was done by others. At ten o'clock 
on the morning of May 24, columns of smoke arose from, 
various parts of Paris, coiling, meeting, and expanding until 
they almost hid the sun from view. The Ministry of Finances, 
the Palais Royal, the Hotel de Ville, the Prefecture de Police, 
the Palais de Justice, the Palais de la Legion d'Honneur, the 
Cour des Comptes, the Theatre Lyrique, the Caisse des Depots 
et Consignations — all these were burning as well as many houses 
in one and another part of Paris, as for instance in the Rue de 
Lille and the Rue du Bac, at the cross way of the Croix Rouge, 
in the Rue Royale, the Faubourg St. Honore, the Rue Boissy 
d'Anglas, the Rue de Rivoli, the Avenue Victoria, the Boulevard 
Sebastopol, the Rue St. Martin, the Place du Chateau d'Eau 
and the Rue St. Antoine. Never will that awful spectacle 
depart from our memory. 

Surrounded by all those other conflagrations, that of the 
Tuileries continued for three days. It was fortunately cir- 
cumscribed by the massive masonry and ironwork of the newer 
portions adjoining the quay and the Rue de Rivoli, and for a 
similar reason the conflagration of the Louvre library did not 
spread to the art galleries. For some years the outer walls of 
the palace remained standing — lamentable mementoes of the 
madness of Paris in those terrible days of 1871 ; and an im- 
pressive water-colour drawing of them was made by Meissonier, 
who exhibited it in 1883. On various occasions there were 
plans for rebuilding the residence of the Kings and Emperors of 
France, but those schemes were ultimately abandoned, and now 
only the memory of the Tuileries remains. Perhaps that is 
best, for despite all the magnificence, all the festivities, it 
witnessed, it was ever a fatal edifice — a Palace of Doom for 
both Monarchy and Empire. 



INDEX 



Abbatucci, minister, 57 
Abdul-Aziz, Abdul Hamid. See Tur- 
key. 
About, E., 171, 222, 223, 224, 371 
Absinthe, hour of, 322 
Abyssinian page. Empress's, 252 
Academy, French, 392 
Actors, actresses, and vocalists of the 

reign, 322, 325 
Adjutant-General of the Tuileries, 41 
Agar, Mile., 409 

Aguado, Viscount One'sime, 71, 361 ; 

Viscountess, Marchioness de Las 

Marismas, 71, 253, 259, 361 

Aides-de-camp to the Emperor, 45 et 

seq., 305 ; to the Imperial Prince, 379 

Aigle, Marquis de 1', 358, 361, 364 

Ajaccio, Prince Napoleon's speech at, 

230, 231 
Aladenize, Lieut., 149 
Albe, Duke d', 63 ; Duchess d', 61, 62, 
63, 64, 173, 174 ; Miles, d', 170, 323, 
357 
Albert, Archduke, of Austria, 383, 384, 

385 
Albufe'ra, Duke and Duchess d', 352 
Alexander II., Czar. See Kussia, 
Algeria, the Emperor in, 337 ; Gover- 
nors of, 346 et seq. ; King of, pro- 
posed title, 91 
Allsop in Orsini plot, 117 
Allou, Maltre, 216 
Almonry, imperial, 52 
Alphand, M., 132 
Alton-Shee, 25 

Ambassadors to France, some, 298, 299 
American beauties at Court, 71, 262 
Andre scandal, 186 et seq. 
Angouleme, Duke of, 190, 300 
Antonelli, Card., 171 
Aosta, Amadeo, Duke d', King of Spain, 
226, 272 ; Marie Laetitia Bonaparte, 
Duchess d', 226 
Arago, Em., 204 
Archbishops of Paris, 52, 68, 108 



Archer. See Gordon. 

Arese, Count, 136 

Army, the, and the Emperor, 340 et 

seq., 391 ; reorganisation of, 270, 274, 

345 352 
Atholi, Duke of, 372 
Auber, 52, 66, 371 
Aubin des Fougcrais, Dr., 359 
Audiences at Court, 134, 135, 136, 245 
Aumale, Duke d', 231, 303, 393 
Aurelle de Paladines, Gen. d', 145 
Austria, Anne of, 3, 227, 331 ; Francis 

Joseph of, 273, 274, 331, 333, 366, 

372, 383, 384; to invade Germany, 

383 et seq. See also Wars. 
Aventi, Countess, 213 
Ayguesvives, Count d', 43 



Bachon, equerry, 879 

Baciocchi, Princess, 58, 209, 212, 218 ; 
Count Marius, 42, 43, 112, 113, 136, 
185, 187, 189 

Baden, Ste'phanie, n^e Beauharnais, 
Grand Duchess of, 57, 93, 97 

Bagatelle, estate of, 380 

Ballets at Court, 260, 285 

Balls, Empress's Monday, 257, 258; 
fancy and masked, 198, 258 et seq. ; 
Hotel de Ville, 273 ; Jockey Club's, 
264; Legislative Body's, 77, 78; 
Princess Metternich's, 262; Prus- 
sian Embassy's, 263; public and 
private, 254 ; Tuileries state, 254 et 
seq. ; refreshments at, 257 ; Ver- 
sailles, 86, 87 

Banquets at Tuileries. See Dinners. 

Banville, T. de, 235 

Baptism of Imperial Prince, 94, 97 et 

Baraguey d'Hilliers, Ml., 83, 846, 351 
Baroche, minister, 147, 176, 296 
Barrot, F., 186 ; Odilon, 186et seq.,220 
Bartholoni, Marchioness, 213, 217 ; 
Mme. 253, 261,375 



416 



INDEX 



Bartolotti, regicide, 109 et scq. 

Barucci, Giulia, 323 

Bassauo, Duke de, 42, 70, 81, 361, 408 ; 

Duchess de, 42, 67, 70, 355 
Baudry, Paul, 371 
Bauer, Mgr., 53, 357 
Bavaria, Maximilian of, 331 
Bayle, Miles., 76, 164 
Bazaine, Ml., 147, 350 et seq., 398 et 

seq. ; his wife, 351 
Eaze, qusestor, 11, 141 
Beauffremont, Princess de, 373 
Beaufort, Duke of, 183 
Beauharnais, Claude de, 57. See also 

Hortense, Josephine, and Baden 
Beaulaincourt. See Contades. 
Beaumont, Count and Countess de, 286 
Beauregard, chateau of, 190 ; Countess. 

See Howard. 
Beaury plot, 120 
Beauties, dinner of the, 253 
Bechevet, Count de, 183, 190, 193 
Beckwith, Miss, 262 
Bedoj^ere. See La Bedoyere. 
Bees, ballet of the, 260 ; of the Bona- 

partes, 95, 260 
Be'hague, Countess de, 281 
Belgians, kings of the : Leopold I., 

331, 333 ; Leopold XL, at first Duke 

of Brabant, 88, 271, 335 
Bellanger, Marguerite, 202 et seg.,338 
Belle Helene in a crinoline, 314 
Bellemare, lunatic regicide, 107, 108 
Belmont, Marq. de, 43 
Benedetti, Count, 294, 295, 384, 385, 

396 
Benoit, Tuileries head-cook, 137, 250 
Benot, incendiary, 411 et seq. 
Berckheim, Gen. de, 48 
Berezowski, regicide, 272 
Bergeret, Gen. of the Commune, 410 

Bernard, Dr., 117, 119 
Bernhardt, Sarah, 325 
Berri, Duke de, 102, 190; Duchess 

de, 31, 92 
Berryer, 175, 215 
Berthier, Ml., 281. See Wagram. 
Berwick. See Albe. 
Beville, Baron de, 47, 189 
Beyens, Baron, 299 
Biarritz, 273, 354 et seq. 
Bibesco, Prince, 373 
Bidos, M., 41 

Biguet, Empress's usher, 158 
Billault, minister, 176, 293 et seq. 
Billing, Baron de, 225, 266, 271 
Bineau, minister, 57 
Birth of Imperial Prince, 91 et seq. 



Bismarck, Count, later Prince, 147, 
256, 272, 273, 294, 295, 372, 384, 
385, 395 ; colour, so-called, 315 
Bizot, Mme., gov. to Impl. Prince, 90, 

376 
Black Cabinet, 108, 147 
Blanc, Charles, on feminine dress, 314 ; 

Fran9ois, of Monte Carlo, 243 
Blount, Ashton, 372, 374 
Blucher, Ml., 331 
Boar-hunting, 358, 364 
Bonaparte, Prince Antoine Lucien, 
211, 213 ; Charles Lucien, Prince of 
Canino, 211 ; Christiane Egypta, 
239; Elisa (sister of Napoleon I.), 
58, 209 ; Elizabeth, Mrs., n^e Pater- 
son, 215 et seq.; Princess Jeanne, 
see Villeneuve ; Jerome, Mr., son of 
Elizabeth Paterson, 213, 215 et seq. ; 
Jerome fils, grandson of E. Paterson, 
216, 218, 219 ; Prince Joseph Lucien, 
211, 213 ; Laetitia, " Madame Mere," 
215, 330 ; Princess Laetitia Julie, 
209, 211 ; Prince Louis Lucien, 92, 
211, 213 ; Cardinal Lucien Louis, 
211 ; Princess Mariana, 213 ; Prince 
Napoleon Charles Lucien, 92, 211, 
213 ; Princess Napoleon Charles 
Lucien, n^eEuspoli, 211, 212 ; Prince 
Napoleon Louis, brother of Napofeon 
III., 7, 116; General Prince Napo- 
leon Louis Jerome, 226, 233 ; Prince 
Napoleon Victor Jerome, 226, 233 ; 
Prince Pierre Napoleon Lucien, 148, 
150, 15], 211, 213, 240 et seq., 364, 
390 ; Princess Pierre Napoleon, 242, 
243 ; Prince Kolaud, 243, 244. See 
also Aosta, Canino, Jerome, Joseph, 
Louis, Mathilde, Napoleon, and 
Napoleon (Jerome). 

Bonaparte-Centamori, Mme., 214 

Wyse, 212, 213 

Bonapartes, the, allowances and grants 
to, 38, 148, 212 et seq.; at the 
establishment of the Second Em- 
pire, 209; table of, in 1868.. .213; 
their connection with the British 
Koyal House, 219 

Bonnets and hats, 317, 318 

Booker, Mrs. A., 213 

Boots, ladies', 318 

Bordas, Mme., 409 

Bordeaux, Duke de, 2, 92 

Bosquet, ML, 97, 253, 345 

Boudin, incendiary, 411, 412 

Boulevards, Paris, 321, 322; at the 
Eevolution, 403 

Boulogne, Bois de, 322, 323, 380 

Boulogne-?ur-Mei', camp at, SO, 84, 



INDEX 



417 



341; Louia Napoleon's attempt at, 

32, 33, 183 
Bourbaki, Gen., 47, 346 
Bourbon, Palais, 11, 77, 290,403, 404 
Bourgoing, Baron de, 51 ; Baroness de, 

253, 260 
Bouvet. See Carette. 
Bovary, Mme., 296 
Brabant. See Belgians. 
Bran^ion, Mme. de, 90, 376 
Brault. See Gordon. 
Breakages and losses at Tuileries, 

248 
Bressant, 234 
Bressonet, Major, 350 
Bridge over English Channel, 146, 375 
Bridges, Mr. (Imperial stables), 304 
Brincard, Mme., 260 
Brohan„ Augustine, 320 ; Madeleine, 

234 
Bruat, Mme., Governess of the Children 

of France, 90, 93, 97, 98, 376 
Brunswick, Charles II., Duke of, 284, 

385 
Budberg, Baron, 299 
Buffet, minister, 389 
Bugea^d, Ml., 31, 399 
Bure, Crown treasurer, 148, 184, 251 
Burgh, Mr. de, 51 
Burgoyne, Sir J,, 408 
Bussieres family, 280 
Buttons of the Hunt, 360, 361 



Oabanel, portrait of Napoleon III. 

by, 161 
Cabinet noir of the post-oflSce, 108, 147 
, private, of the Emperor, 129 et 

seq. 
Cadore, Duchess de, 160, 253 
Caesar, Napoleon's life of, 47, 48, 138, 

146, 154 
Cafe's of Paris, 321 
Calzado, 323^ 324 
Cambaceres, Duke de, 44, 65, 246, 

361 ; Duchess de, 45, 246 
Cambridge, Duke of, 341, 344 
Cambriels, Gen., 48 
Camerata, Count, 58 
Camp. See Boulogne and Chalons, 
Campana, Marchioness, 150, 151 
Campella, Countess, 213 
Canino, Lucien, Prince of, brother of 

Napoleon I., 11, 209, 211, 239 
Canizy, Mme. de, 253 
Canrobert, Certain de, Ml., 46, 47, 97, 

253, 349, 351, 352 
, Mme. de, n^e Macdonald, 46, 253, 

260, 279, 353, 406 



Caraman-Chimay family, 310, 373 
Carbonari, Napoleon III. and the, 7 

104 
Carbonnel, Gen., 25 
Cardigan, Lord, 82 
Carette, Mme., nee Bouvet, 72, 73, 167, 

256, 332, 333, 336, 357 
Carpeaux, 322, 371 
Carriages, State, 65, 67, 87, 89, 302, 

303; the Emperor's service, 303 et 

seq. ; the Empress's, 308 ; the Im- 
perial Prince's, 380 
Carrousel, Place du, 3, 18 
Cassagnac, Paul de, 218, 219, 286 
Castelbajac, Count de, 51 
Castellane, Ml. de, 17, 30, 32, 59, 198, 

346 
Castelnau, Gen., 46 
Castelvecchio, Count de, 207 
Castiglione, Count Verasis di, 110, 

200, 202 ; Countess Virginia, 110, 

111, 197 et seq., 259, 263. See also 

Colonna. 
Castries, Duke de, 280 
Caulaincourt. See Vicence. 
Caumont-Laforce, Duke de, 361 
Caux, Marquis de, 51, 258 
Cavour, Count, 88, 110, 111, 147, 225, 

339 
Cellarius, 320 
Cent-Gardes, 39, 41, 49, 50, 121 et 

seq.; 130,254,255 
Ceremonies, Grt. Master of the, and 

others, 44, 45 
C^sar d^classg, 223 

Ch§,lons, camp of, 341 et seq.; Em- 
peror ill at, 336; conference at, in 

1870.. .400 
Chamber of Deputies. See Legislative 

Body. 
Chamberlains, Emperor's, 42 et seq., 

130, 135, 305 ; Empress's, 74, 75 
Chambre bleue, la, by M^rimee, 169 
Changarnier, Gen., 141 
Channel, bridge over English, 146, 

375 
Chaplin, Charles, 159 
Charades at Court, 285, 373 
Chargers. See Horses. 
Charities, Empress's, 69, 167, 308 
Charles X. of France, 10, 20, 36, 329, 

330, 358 
Charlotte, Empress. See Mexico. 
Charras, Col., 141 
Chasseloup-Laubat, Marq. de, 270 ; 

March, de, 253 
Chassepot rifle, 46, 47, 342 
Chassiron, Baroness de, n^e Murat, 212, 

213 

2e 



418 



INDEX 



Cliaudordy, Count rle, 396 • 

Chaumont, Marquis de, 43 

Chemist, Court, 54 

Cherbourg, 119, 313 

Chevandier de Valdrome, 295, 389 

Chevrcau, minister, 295, 406 

Chignons, 317, 318 

Chimay. See Caraman. 

Choiseul, Count de, 259 

Civil Family of the Emperor, 210 et 

seq. 
Civil List and its payments, 36, 37, 

39, 148, 150, 151, 212, 213, 214 
Civita Nuova, Emperor's estate of, 

183 191 
Chxrendon, Earl of, 372 
Claretie, Jules, 324, 408 
Ckuide, chief of Detective Police, 115 
Clotilde of Savoy, Princess, ■wife of 

Napoleon (Jerome), 215, 225, 226, 

228, 229, 245, 246, 256, 259, 406 
Clubs of Paris, 321 
Coalition projected against Germany, 

383 et seq., 396, 397 
Colonels, French, threaten England, 

119 
Colonna di Castiglione, Duchess, 373 
Colours of the reign, fashionable, 314, 

315, 317 
Comedie frau§aise, 112, 373 
Commentaires de C^sar, Massa's, 285, 

374, 375 
Commune of Paris and the Tuileries, 

408 et seq. 
Compiegne, the Court at, 285, 853, 357 

et seq., 368 et seq. ; marshals at, 351. 

See also Hunt. 
Conception, immaculate, dogma, 108 
Conegliano, Duke de, 40, 43, 306 
Conilagrations of the Commune, 414 
Conneau, Dr., 53, 54, 134, 136, 144, 

393, 395; Mme., 234; their son, 381 
Conspiracies against Napoleon III., 100 

et seq. 
Constantine, Grand Duke, 18, 19 
Constitution of the Empire and its 

changes, 16, 60, 61, 84, 89, 173, 175, 

176, 269, 270, 385, 386, 390, 391, 892 
Consultation on the Emperor's health, 

393 et seq. 
Contades, March, de, 60, 199, 361 
Conti, Chef-de-cabinet, 139, 143 
Cooks and assistants at Tuileries, 250, 

251 
Corbeille de manage. Empress's, 69, 

811 
Cornemuse, Gen., 155 et seq. 
Cornu, Mme., 14, 17, 153, 154 
Corps Le'gislatif. See Legislative Body. 



Corvisart, Dr. Baron, 53, 54, 357, 393, 

395, 397 
Cosse-Briesac, Count Artus de, 75, 407 
Costumiers, Parisian, 310 et seq. 
Council, imperial family, 216 
, ministerial, Empress at the, 171, 

176, 177 ; her last, 404 
Coup d'Etat of Dec, 1851. ,.6, 7, 10 

et seq., 27, 28, 48, 881 ; men of the, 

23 et seq. ; Mocquard at the, 140, 141 ; 

Napoleon's horse at the, 307; victims 

of the, 69, 70, 96 
Courcelles, Kue de, Princess Mathilde 

in the, 234, 285 
Cousin-Montauban. See Palikao. 
Couture, painter, 371 
Cowley, 1st Earl, 16, 27, 299, 361, 366 
Cradles of the Impl. Prince, 90 
Credit foncier loans to Emperor, 150, 

151 ; to city of Paris, 297 
Cre'mieux, A., 204 
Crimea. See Wars. 
Crinolme, the, 164, 165, 813, 314, 355 
Crown. See Dotation, Jewels. 
Crouy-Chanel, Prince de, 145 
Cur^e after hunting, 863, 364 ; of the 

Liberal Empire, 248, 389 
Cybfele carriage, 302, 303 
Czartoryska, Princess Constantine, 285, 

378 
Czernowitz, Count, 307 

Dalmas, M. de, 143 

Damas, M. de, 217 

Dancing with peasant girls. Emperor,, 

14, 840. See Balls. 
Darboy, Archbp. of Paris, 52, 53 
Dardelle, of the Commune, 408, 409, 

411 
Darimon, deputy, 394, 395 
Daru, Count, 389, 405 
Davenport brothers, 265 
David, Baron Jerome, 149, 214, 406 

Baroness, 214 
Davillier, Count, 51, 54 
Deauville, 29 

Deguerry, Abbe', 53, 163, 258, 377 
Dejeuners, Emperor and Empress's, 

135; oflScers', 136; at Compiegne, 

369 
Delangle, minister, 296 
Delessert, Mme., 59 ; her son, 361 
Delorme, Philibert. See Tuileries. 
Demidoff, Prince Anatole, 235, 236 
Bemi-monde, the, 264, 328. See also 

Pearl, Cora. 
Demorny, Auguste, 24. See Morny. 
Denmark, King of, 272. See also 

Wars: Schleswig. 



INDEX 



419 



Denuelle de la Plaigne. See Luxburg. 
Devienne, President, 203 et seq., 338 
Devonshire, Duchess of, previously of 

Manchester, 198 
Dinners at Tuileries, 136, 137, 229, 

245 et seq., 251 et seq. ; at Compiegne, 

369 ; at Palais Eoyal, 229 
Dix, General, 299; Miss, 262 
Dogs, the Emperor's, 365, 371 
Dotation of the Crovpn, 36, 89 
Douay, Gen. Abel, 350 ; Gen. Fe'Iix, 47 
Doucet, Camille, verses by, 95, 371 
Dmcjees,Ixnpl. Prince's, 125 ; ordered by 

Emperor, 196, 197 
Drives, Emperor's, 305, 306 
Drouyn de Lhuys, M., 57, 295, 298, 

338 ; Mme., 261 
Dubois, Dr. Baron, 54, 93 
Dubufe's paintings at Tuileries, 159 
Dufour, Gen., 9, 137 
Dumas, Alex., the elder, 322 
Dunmore, 7th Earl of, 372 
Duperre, Capt., later Adml., 879 
Dupuis or Dupuy, comptroller, 249, 

251 ; his wife, 164 
Dusautoy, Emperor's tailor, 15, 149, 

153 
Duthe, La, 317 

Edinbxjegh, Duke of, 272 

Edward VII. See "Wales. 

Egypt, Ismail, Viceroy of, 272. See 
Suez. 

Ely, Marchioness of, 89 

Elyse'e Palace, 5, 6, 36, 59, 65, 66, 128, 
140, 185, 273, 361, 411 

Empire. See Second. 

Empress, the. See Eugenie, House- 
hold. 

England, Emperor and Empress visit, 
81, 82. See Great Britain. 

Ennery, Adolphe d', 141 

Entente cordiaJe, origin of the term, 
79,119 

Equerries, Emperor's, 50, 51, 255, 300, 
301,309; Empress's, 308; Imperial 
Prince's, 380 

Espinasse, General, 11, 47, 118 

Essling, Princess d', 67, 70, 81, 91 

Estafettes, imperial, 305 

Eugenie, Empress of the French, and 
a statue of Peace, 19 ; refuses a 
jointure, 38 ; gives General Schmitz 
a kiss, 48; her parentage and 
marriage, 56 et seq., 189 ; her personal 
appearance, 64, 68, 255 ; her house- 
hold, 67, 70 et seq. ; her jewellery, 
67, 69, 144, 166, 167, 255; her 
corheille de manage, 69, 311; re- 



proves her reader, 73 ; visits London 
and "Windsor, 81, 82 ; receives Queen 
Victoria at St. Cloud, 85; attends 
the Versailles ball, 87; is friendly 
with Nigra but champions Papal 
interests, 88, 171 et seq., Ill, 206, 
207; birth of her son, 89 et seq.- 
present at the State baptism, 97 
et seq. ; presented with the Golden 
Kose, 99, 163; befriends Griscelli, 
104 ; in connection with the Pianori 
and Bellemare affairs, 105, 107 ; at 
the theatre, 112 ; at the Orsini affair, 
114, 115 ; her fears for her son, 120; 
portraits of her, 130 ; lunches with 
the Emperor, 135 ; her preference 
in cookery, 137 ; at dinner, 137, 246, 
249, 252, 253; meets Mme. Cornu, 
154 ; her rooms at the Tuileries, 
158 et seq. ; portrayed as the god- 
dess Flora, 159 ; her private sanc- 
tum, 161 ; her collections of docu- 
ments, 162 ; her wardrobe, 163-166, 
311 ; her head maid, 164 ; patronizes 
the crinoline, 165 ; her expenditure 
on dress, 165, 166 ; her charities, 69, 
167, 308 ; the rearing of her son, 
168 ; her reading, 169 ; her evening 
chats, 170; her travels, 170; her 
regencies, 170 et seq., 397 et seq. ; 
admires Marie-Antoinette, 170, 177, 
201 ; her share in politics, 171 et seq., 
176, 177, 206, 207 ; loses her sister, 
172 ; visits Scotland, 174, 175, 199 ; 
is opposed by Persigny, 176 ; attends 
ministerial councils, 176, 177; her 
relations with Kouher, Magne, and 
OUivier, 177; in relation to Miss 
Howard, 189, 192, 193, 207 ; expels 
a scandalmonger from the Tuileries, 
195; is no Catherine of Braganza, 
196; expels Mme. de Castiglione, 
201 ; incensed by the Marguerite 
Bellanger affair, 205 ; threatens to 
leave the Emperor, 205 ; is estranged 
from him, 206, 207 ; her Abyssinian 
page, 252; gives a beauty dinner, 
253 ; at State balls, 255 et seq. ; her 
Monday balls, 257 et seq. ; at fancy- 
dress balls, 259, 260, 261 ; patronizes 
Home the medium, 266 ; at St. 
Cloud fair, 268 ; affected by wounded 
soldiers' sufferings, 278 ; visits Morny 
before his death, 290 ; gives a 
carriage to the Duke d'Aumale, 302, 
303 ; her carriages and horses, 308, 
309; her costumiers, 311 ; drives in 
the Bois de Boulogne, 323 ; dislikes 
St. Cloud, 328, 330 ; with Charlotte 



420 



INDEX 



of Mexico, 332, 333; at Biarritz, 
354 et seq.; her adventure off St. 
Jean de Luz, 357 ; her hunting-habit, 
360; is alarmed by her husband's 
daring, 362 ; shoots in the preserves, 
368 ; her joke with Eouland, 368 ; 
p-jts down rabbit-coursing, 368 ; her 
tea-parties at Compiegne, 369; is 
complimented on her son by William 
of Prussia, 372; receives Emile 
OUivier at dinner, 387; does not 
see the report on her husband's 
health, 394 ; unlikely that she pre- 
cipitated the Franco-German War, 
397 ; becomes Eegent for the last 
time, 397 ; is hostile to Napoleon's 
return to Paris, 398, 400, 401 ; goes 
precipitately to Paris after Worth, 
398 ; her last official reception, 398, 
399; her distrust of Trochu, 399, 
400; the charge of sacrificing her 
husband discussed, 401 ; has fears of 
a revolution, 401, 402; schemes to 
ensure her safety, 402 ; receives 
news of Sedan, 403 ; holds her last 
councils, 404 ; receives the Orleanist 
deputies, 405, 406; takes an im- 
pressive farewell of her household, 
406, 407; quits the Tuileries and 
France, 408 

Eugenie, villa. See Biarritz. 

Evans, Dr., 408 

Escelmans, Gen., later Marshal, 48, 
346 

Exhibition, Paris, of 1855, 80 et seq^. ; 
of 1867, 271 et seq. 

Failly, Gen. de, 47, 196, 400 

Family. See Civil and Council. 

Farnese frescoes, 22 

Famesina gardens, 148 

Fashions, feminine, 164, 165, 277, 284, 

310 et seq., 390; men's, 320, 321, 

353 
Fat Ox Procession, 267, 268 
Fauvel, Dr., 393, 395 
Fave, Gen., 47, 175 
Favre, Jules, 118, 403 
Fechter, 147 
Felix, Empress's hairdresser, 81 ; 

actress, see Rachel 
Feray, Countess, 72 
Fei-rifere, Visct. de la, 43 
Ferry, Jules, 400, 403 
Fetes and fairs in Paris and environs, 

267, 268, 269 
Feuillet, Octave, 235, 285, 371 
Feuillet de Conches, Baron, 45, 170 
Fialin. See Persigny. 



Fieschi, 102 

Filon, Aug., 377 

Financial scandals, 324 

Flahault de la Billarderie, Gen. Count 

de, 9, 23 et seq., 290 ; his wife, 24 
Flanders, Count and Countess of, 272, 

273 
Flandrin's portrait of Prince Napoleon, 

222 223 
Fleurv, Emile, Gen. Count, 11, 17, 

34, 35, 44, 50, 51, 56, 57, 58, 60, 65, 

68, 81, 85, 146, 182, 183, 185, 300 

et seq., 309 ; his wife, 35, 260 
Floquet, Ch., 272 
Florence, Louis Napoleon's love affair 

at, 181 
Fontainebleau, Court at, 16, 353, 354, 

362, 363, 365, 368 
Fonvielle, XJlrich de, 241, 242 
Footmen, palace, 44, 53 
Forcade de la Eoquette, minister, 30, 

295, 296, 388 
Foreign affairs, Ministers of, 297 
Forey, ML, 349, 350, 351 
Fould, Achille, 35 et seq., 39, 58, 60 

66, 270, 283, 361, 363 
Fourtoul, minister, 57 
Francis Joseph. See Austria. 
Fraser, Carolina. See Murat, Princess 

Lucien. 
Frogs, Pasteur's, 370 
Frossard, Gen., 47, 352, 378, 379, 397 
Fustel de Coulanges, 169 

Gaboeiau, E., on Cornemuse and Miss 

Howard, 157, 192 
Gabrielli, Prince, 213, 245; Princess, 

n^e Bonaparte (Lucien), 210, 211, 

213, 245 
Galerie de Diane, etc. See Tuileries. 
Galliffet, family, 276 ; Gen. Marq. de, 

48, 49, 196, 260, 275 et seq., 285, 

286, 374; Mme. de, 49, 253, 261, 

275, 277 et seq. 
Gamble, Mr., of the imperial stables, 

307 
Garcia the gambler, 323, 324 
Gardoni, 234 
Garter, order of the, given to Emperor, 

82 
Garters, fashions in, 318, 319 
Gautier, Theophile, verses on the Im- 
perial Prince, 94, 194, 371 
Germany, coalition to invade, 383, 384, 

396, 397. See also Prussia. 
Gipsy quadrille at Tuileries, 260 
Gipsy's prediction to Napoleon III., 17 
Girardin, Emile de, 224; Mme. dq 

262 



INDEX 



421 



Golden Rose, the, 99, 163 

Goltz, Baron, 298, 356 

Gomez, Orsini's servant, 115 

Gordon, Col. Archer, 181 ; Mme., n^e 
Brault, 181. 182 

Gouache, confectioner, 196 

Goyon, Gen. Count de, 46 

Graces of the Empire, 275 et seg, 

Gramont Duke de, 389, 396 

Grant, A. S., 192 

Great Britain, her relations with 
France, 79, 119 ; royal house of, and 
the Bonapartes, 219;iVictoria, Queen 
of, sounded on the Emperor's matri- 
moniall schemes, 56 ; visited by the 
Emperor and Empress, 81, 175, 313 ; 
visits Paris, 83 et seq. ; in relation 
to the Imperial Prince, 89, 93, 380 

Great Chamberlain, Great Equerry, 
Great Huntsman, etc. See Cham- 
berlains, Equerries, Huntsman, etc. 

Greco's plot, 120 

Greece. See Hellenes. 

Grenadiers of the Guard, 344, 372, 
378 

Gricourt, Marq. de, 43 

Griscelli, detective, 104, 109 

Grocer, profession of, 152 

Grousset, P., 241, 242 

Guard, Imperial, 50, 88, 130, 346; 
Mobile, 46, 274, 340 

Gue'roult, Adolphe, 223 

Guides, regiment of, 50, 67, 239 



Ham, Napoleon III. at, 52, 54, 59, 76, 

140, 144, 183, 184, 336, 337, 371 
Hamiltons, 57, 97, 372 
Hanover, last King of, 385 
Hargett. See Howard. 
Harispe, Ml. Count, 346 
Haussmann, Baron, 132, 273, 296, 297 ; 

Mile., 297 
Havre, Le, Miss Howard kept at, 189 
Havrincourt, Marquis d', 43, 75 
Hawking revived, 364 
Heindereich, headsman, 203 
Hellenes, George I., King of the, 271 
Hertford, Marq. of, 185, 281, 322, 380 
Hippodrome plot, 102 
Hitchcock, Miss, 263 
Hohenlohe, Princess Adelaide of, 56 
HohenzoUem candidatures to Spanish 

throne, 385, 393, 395 
Holland, William III., King of the 

Netherlands, 154,372; Sophia,Queen, 

154, 155 
Home, D.D., medium, 265 et seq. 
Honorati-Komagnoli, Blme., 213 



Horsemanship, the Emperor's, 10, 83, 
84, 307, 343 ; the Impl. Prince's, 380 

Horse-racing and the Emperor, 309 

Horses, the Emperor's carriage, 306 ; 
his saddle, 307, 308 ; the Empress's, 
308, 309 ; of the hunt, 360 

Hortense, n^e Beauharnais, Queen of 
Holland, mother of Napoleon III., 
7, 8, 9, 23, 24, 25, 57, 139 

Hounds of the imperial hunt, 358, 359, 
360, 363, 364 

Household, the imperial, its organiza- 
tion and expenses, 35 et seq. ; officers 
of, 39 et seq., 135; the Emperor's 
military, 45 et seq. ; at the Revolu- 
tion, 406, 407 ; the Empress's, 67, 
70 et seq., 74 et seq. ; the Impl. 
Prince's, 90, 376 et seq. See Chamber- 
lains, Equerries, etc. 

Howard, Elizabeth Anne Haryett (or 
Hargett), Countess de Beauregard, 
37, 60, 64, 182-193, 330 

Hiibner, Baron, 226, 283 

Hugo, Victor, 14, 78, 96, 103, 141, 409 

Humbert. See Italy. 

Hunt, the imperial, 52, 300, 301, 358 
et seq. 

Huntsman, the great, 32, 52, 300, 301, 
353 

Hyrvoix, chief of palace police, 120, 
123, 125 

Illness, the Emperor's, 139, 335-339 
343, 345, 381, 393-395, 397 

Immaculate Conception dogma, 108 

Imperial Guard, imperial household, 
etc. See Guard, Household, etc. 

Imperial Prince, the. Napoleon Louis, 
Eugene Jean Joseph; his birth, 89 
et seq. ; his appearance, 93, 94 ; his 
private baptism, 94 ; verses in his 
honour, 94 et seq. ; his state baptism, 
97 et seq., 148 ; fears for his safety 
120 ; his prank with a Cent-Garde, 
125 ; his meals, 135 ; a hairdresser's 
petition to him, 145 ; his fables, 154 ; 
his early rearing, 168, 377, 378 ; 
attends fancy balls, 259, 261 ; his 
rooms at St. Cloud, 330 ; at Chalons 
camp, 342; his adventure at St. 
Jean de Luz, 357 ; his first hunt, 
362; a pupil of the Grenadiers ot 
the Guard, 372, 378 ; in a charade, 
373 ; his household, 376 et seq. ; his 
masters and lessons, 377 ; his pluck, 
378 ; his military governor and 
aides-de-camp, 378, 379 ; his horses 
and horsemanship, 379, 380 ; his 
young friends, 381 ; his chance oi 



422 



INDEX 



succession, 381, 382 ; in the Franco- 
German War, 50, 397 

Industrie, Palais de 1', 80, 81, 273, 279, 
403, 411 

Invalides, the, 17, 85, 91, 92, 93 

Invasion of Grermany, projected, 341, 
383, 384, 396, 397 

Isabella. See Spain. 

Isly, Duchess d', 260 

Italian Opera-house, Paris, 107, 323 

Italy, Victor Emmanuel II., King of, 
previously of Sardinia, 88, 110, 225, 
331, 366, 367, 372, 380, 383 ; Hum- 
bert, Crown Prince, later King of, 
201, 202, 272, 331; to invade 
Germany, 383 et seq. See also Wars. 

Jablonowski, Prince, 150, 151 ; 

Princess, 261 
Jacob, Zouave, 326 
Jadin, 235, 360 
Jargon of fashions, 317 
Jerningham, Sir H., 258 
Jerome, ex-King of Westphalia, brother 

of Napoleon I., 17, 58, 60, 61, 68, 85, 

155, 200, 209, 210, 214-217, 227, 

245, 346, 349. See Wurtemberg. 
Jewellery, eccentric, 319 
Jewels, crown, of France, 67, 144, 166, 

167 
Joseph, sometime King of Spain, 

brother of Napoleon I., 209, 211, 

237, 240, 352 
Josephine, Empress, 59, 330 
Journalists, Parisian, 324 
Judith, Mile., 226 
Jurien de la Graviere, Adml., 48, 357 

Keith and Nairne, Baroness, 24 

Kelch's plot, 103, 109 

King of Rome. See Rome. 

Kiosks, Paris, 192 

Kirkpatricks, the, 63 

Kisseleff, Count and Countess, 265, 

286, 287 
Kitchen service at Tuileries, 250, 251 1 

La BeddyJibe, Count de, 43 ; Countess 

de, 72, 85, 98, 355 
Labenne, Count de, 184 
Ladies of Honour to the Empress, 70 
of the Palace, 70 et seg. ; at the 

Revolution, 406, 407 

" of the Lake," 264, 284, 323 

Laffitte, Charles, 202, 275, 372 

L&ge, Baron de, 52, 365 

La Grange, Marquis de, equerry to 

Empress, 85, 174 
Lagrange, Count F., 310, 372 



Laisne, Abbe, Emperor's confessor, 52, 

53 
Lambert, Col. Baron, 52, 358, 360, 363, 

374 
Land reclaimed by the Emperor, 148, 

150, 151, 184, 185, 292, 342 
Lansdowne, Marquess of, 24, 372 
La Poeze, Countess de, 72, 355, 407 
Larrey, Dr. Baron, 54, 336 
Las Marismas. See Aguado, 
Latomr-Maubourg, Marquis de, 52; 

March-de. 72, 98, 195 
Lavisse, Eraest, 377 
Lawoestine, Count de, 41 
Layette of the Impl. Prince, 88, 89, 90 
Lebas, P., 9 
Lebceuf, Justine. See Bellanger. 

, ML, 46, 339, 349, 352, 353, 389, 

396 
Lebreton, Mme., n€e Bourbaki, 73, 74, 

407, 408 
Lebrun, Gen., 47, 146, 339, 383-385, 

392, 393, 395, 397 
Leconte de Lisle, 150, 151, 325 
Ledru-Rollin, 109, 111, 143 
Leemans, chief huntsman, 359, 360 
Lefuel, his Tuileries work, 159 
Legislative body, the, 16, 77, 93, 175, 

176, 269, 270, 386, 390, 403-406 
Lehon, Count Charles, 288, 289 ; Count 
Leopold, 289; Countess Zoe, 26, 
286, 288, 289 ; her children, 289 
Lejeune, Baron, 51 
Leon, Count Charles, son of Napo- 
leon I., 179 et seq. 
Leopold. See Belgians. 
Lepic, Gen. Count, 42, 49 
Lespes, E., hairdresser, 145 

Leo, journalist, 146, 322 

Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 63, 371, 404 ; 

Mathieu de, 63 
Leverrier, 16, 370 
Lezay-Marnesia, Count de, 75 ; Countess 

de, 72 
Librarian, the Empress's, 76 
Lincoln, Lord, 2 
Liszt, Abbe', 283, 371, 390 
Literary men of the reign, some, 324, 

325 
Liveries. See Uniforms. 
Locock, Sir C, 89 
Longuet, Prof., 370 
Lord Mayor in Paris, first, 82, 83 
Losses and breakages at Tuileries, 248 
Louis XIII. and the Palais Royal, 227 ; 

XIV. and the Tuileries, 3 et se.q., 
18 et seq.; and St. Cloud, 329, 331 ; 

XV. and the Tuileries, 4 ; and 
Napoleon III., 207, 208; XVI. and 



INDEX 



423 



the Tuileries, 4, 21 ; his civil list, 

36 ; and St. Cloud, 330 ; XVIII. and 
. the Tuileries, 5, 6, 20 ; his civil list, 

36 
Louis Philippe and the Tuileries, 6, 18, 

102; and the Palais Royal, 227; 

and St. Cloud, 330; and Fontaine- 

bleau, 354 
sometime King of Holland, father 

of Napoleon III., 7, 8, 9 
Lourmel, Countess de, 73 
Louvre Library, 413, 414 
Lucien, brother of Napoleon I. See 

Canino. 
Luxburg, Count, 179 ; Countess, 179 

et seq. 
Luxembourg Palace, 5 
Luxemburg, Grand Duchy of, 269, 272, 

385 
Lyons, Lord, 299 

Macdonald. See Canrobert and 

Farente. 
MacMahon, Ml., Duke de Magenta, 49, 
120, 348, 349, 351, 361, 398, 400, 401, 
403, 410 ; Mme. de. 279, 349, 353 
Magnan, Ml, Grt, Huntsman, 17, 28, 
32, 52, 301, 346, 353, 367; his 
daughters, 287 ; Mme. Leopold, n^e 
Haritoff, 253, 260, 287 
Magne, minister, 177, 296, 367 
Maillard, chef de Vargenterie, 247 et seq, 
Maitres d'hotel at Tuileries 249, 250 
Malakoff. See Pelissier. 
Malaret, Baroness de, 72, 81 
Malmesbury, 3rd Earl of, 70, 183, 196 
Manchester, Duchess of, 198 
Mangin, Col., 150, 151 
" Marcello," 372 
Marie Amelie, Queen, 302 

Antoinette, Queen, and the 

Tuileries, 4; and St. Cloud, 328, 
330 ; her hair, 317 ; and the Empress 
Eugenie, 170, 177, 201 

Laetitia, Princess. See Aosta. 

Louise, Empress, 54, 67, 329, 330 

Marksman, Napoleon III. as a, 366 
Marriage, the imperial, 56 et seq., 189 
Marshal of the Household, great, 39, 

41 
Marshals of France, 345 et neq. ; dinner 
of the, 251, 253. See also their re- 
spective names. 
Marthe, Mile., 58 
Martigues principality, 276 
Martyn, Major Mountjoy, 182, 190 
Mass, military, at ChS,lons, 344 
Massa, Marq. Philippe de, 282, 285, 
374 



Massol, baritone, 112 

Master of the Empress's Household, 

great, 74, 75 
Mathilde, Princess. 60, 65, 87, 194, 202, 
210, 212, 213, 215, 217, 218, 233 
et seq., 245, 246, 256, 259, 261, 361, 
363 
Maupas, M. de, 28 
Maussion, Baron de, 41 
Maximilian. See Mexico. 
Mazurka, the, 325 
Mazzini, 108, 109, 111, 117 
Medical service, imperial, 53, 54 
Medici, Catherine de, 1, 2, 5; Marie 

de, 5 
Meissonier, 414 
Mellinet, Gen,, 374, 407 
Men of the reign, some, 322, 324, 325 
Menjaud, Bp. of Nancy, 52, 68, 94 
Menneval, Baron de, 41 
Merante, 260 

Mercy- Ajgenteau, Countess de, 373 
Merime'e, P., 76, 169, 371, 372, 403 
Merle, Count, 41 
Mery, 66 

Metairie, Abbe, 53 

Metternich, Prince Eichard, 283, 285, 
286, 322, 361, 366, 385, 403, 406, 407, 
408 ; Princess Pauline, 253, 259, 261 , 
262, 263, 368, 282 et seq, 368, 374 
Metz and Bazaine, 351, 397-401 
Meudon chateau, 215, 229 
Mexico, Maximilian, Emperor of, 206, 
273, 331, 332 et seq., 335 ; Charlotte, 
Empress of, 273, 331 et seq., 338. 
See also Wars. 
Mingrelia, Salome Dadiani of. See 

Murat, Princess Achille. 
Ministers of Napoleon III., some, 57, 
58, 118, 134, 175, 176, 177, 270, 293 
et seq., 345, 346, 386, 388, 389, 398 
Miolan-Carvalho, Mme., 234 
Mobile. See Guard. 
Mocquard, Chef-de-cabinet, 121, 139 

et seq., 185, 189, 191, 225 
Molitor, Baroness, 260 
Mollard, Gen., 46 
Moltke, Ml., von, 272, 273, 384 
Moncalieri title, 232 
Monnier, F., 154, 377 
Montalembert, 78 
Montauban. See Palikao. 
Montaut, Mme. Henri de, 261 
Montbrun, Baron de, 41 
Montebello, Gen. Count Lannes de, 46, 
71, 81, 85 ; Countess, 71, 81, 98, 174, 
253 
Montijo, Count de, 62, 63; Cjuntesa 
de, 59, 62, 63, 67, 76, 91, 148, 372 ; 



424 



INDEX 



Joaquin de, 61. See Albo and 
Eugenie. 

Montmorency, Carmen, Duchess de, 
71, 253 

Montpensier, Mile, de, 3 

Moon, Sir F. G., Ld. Mayor, 82, 83 

Morio de I'Isle, Baron, 41 

Morlot, Card., 52 

Morny, Charles Auguste, Duke de, 23- 
29, 58, 132, 147, 176, 256, 261, 287 
et seq., 292, 361, 387 ; Sophie, Duchess 
de, later de Sesto, 29, 160, 253, 262, 
288, 289, 291 ; their children, 291 

Moskowa, Edgar Ney, Prince de la, 17, 
52, 72, 81, 104, 185, 262, 300, 301, 
358, 363 ; Princess (dowager) de la, 
34. See also Persigny, Duchess. 

Mosti, Countess, 213 

Mouchy, Antoine de Noailles, Duke 
de, 211, 238, 245. See also Murat, 
Princess Anna. 

Moustache, Napoleon III.'s, 133, 161 

Miiller's portrait of Napoleon III., 258 

Murat, Napoleon Lucien, Prince, 92, 
211, 213, 237 et seq., 245, 361; 
Princess, nee Fraser, 211, 212, 213, 
237, 238, 239, 245 ; Prince Joachim, 
211, 238, 239, 245 ; Princess Joachim, 
211,212,213, 239,245;PrinceAchille, 
148, 211, 213, 238; Princess Achille, 
n^e Dadiani, 211, 212, 238 ; Princess 
Anna, Duchess de Mouchy, 148, 160, 
211, 212, 213, 238, 245, 253, 336. See 
also Chassiron and Easponi. 

Murats, allowances to the, 212, 213 

Music in Paris, 325 

Muslin, St., 316, 390 



Nancy, Bishop of, 52, 68, 94 

Naples, Francis II., King of, 172, 173, 
385 

Napoleon I., Emperor, and the Tuil- 
eries, 5, 19, 20, 21, 67 ; at the Elyse'e, 
5, 6 ; his will, 79 ; his tomb, 85 ; plot 
against, 101 ; annuls the Paterson 
marriage, 215 et seq. ; illegitimate 
children of, 178 et seq. ; and the 
Palais Eoyal, 227; portrait of, 257; 
at St. Cloud, 330; his abdication, 
354 

Napoleon III., Emperor, some events 
of his reign and time, xi. ; occupies 
the Tuileries, 6, 15, 16, 17 ; his ap- 
pearance, character, and early career 
sketclied, 7-15 ; his relations with 
women, 9, 14, 181 et seq., 207, 208 
[see Bellanger, Castiglione, Florence, 
Gordon , Howard, andYergeot]; re- 



establishes the Empire, 13, 15, 16 ; 
forms his Court, 23 et seq. ; portraits 
of, 18, 161, 258 ; in connection with 
Morny, 26, 27, 290, 291 ; with Mag- 
nan, 32, 33 ; with Persigny, 34, 36 ; 
with Fleury, 34, 35; with Fould, 
35; his debts, 37, 183, 185; helps 
his relatives, 38, 212, 213, 214 ; assists 
inventors, 39, 146; in relation to 
Vaillant, 40, 41 ; at Sedan, 54, 308, 
401 ; his matrimonial negotiations, 
56 et seq., 235 ; appoints Jerome and 
Napoleon Jerome his successors, 61 ; 
marries Mile, de Montijo, 65 et seq. ; 
his relations with Great Britain, 79, 
80 ; visits England, 81, 82 ; visited 
by Queen Victoria, 83 et seq. ; birth 
of his son, 89 et seq. ; is godfather to 
3000 children, 96 ; attends his son's 
baptism, 97, 98 ; conspiracies against 
him, 100 et seq. [see Beaury, Belle- 
mare, Greco, Hippodrome, Kelch, 
Opera Comique, Orsini, Pianori, and 
Tibaldi] ; never a Carbonaro, 104 ; 
to be poisoned, 128; his private 
cabinet, 129 et seq. ; his sanctum, 
131 ; his share in the Paris improve- 
ments, 138, 297; his valets, 133; 
his moustache, 133, 161 ; his morning 
work, 134 ; his lunch, 135 ; his after- 
noons, 136; his work-day dinners, 
136 et seq. ; his evenings, 138, 170 ; 
his varied life, 139; his relations 
with Mocquard and others, 139 et 
seq. ; his truncheon, 145 ; reads 
secret reports and intercepted letters, 
147; his land reclaiming schemes, 
148, 150, 151, 184, 185, 292, 342; his 
projected novels, 152 ; finances news- 
papers, 153 ; is reconciled with Mme. 
Cornu, 154 ; is chidden by the Queen 
of Holland, 154 ; an alleged theft in 
his room, 155 et seq. ; prefers Ste.- 
Beuve to Merime'e, ] 69 ; in relation 
to Italy, 171, 172 ; his first consti- 
tutional reforms, 173, 175, 176 [see 
also Constitution] ; his wife's journey 
to Scotland, 174; his illegitimate 
children, 181, 184, 190 ; his estate 
of Civita Nuova, 183 ; services 
rendered him by Miss Howard, 183, 
185; his letter to Odilon Barrot 
respecting her, 186 et seq. ; his gifts to 
her, 190 et seq. ; scandal about him, 
193, 195; on bad terms with the 
Empress, 205 et seq. ; parallel be- 
tween him and Louis XV., 207 ; his 
relations with Prince Napoleon, 220, 
221, 225, 231 ; at family and state- 



INDEX 



425 



dinners, 229, 245, 249, 253 ; inclines 
to liberalism, 231, 232 ; his relations 
with the Murats, 238 ; with the 
Dudley Stuarts, 240; with Pierre 
Bonaparte, 240, 241, 242; at state 
receptions, 254, 269; at balls, 257, 
259, 260, 261 ; plays parlour games, 
265, 370 ; asks riddles, 265 ; patron- 
izes Home the medium, 265, 266 ; 
receives tlie Fat Ox and Washer- 
women's processions, 267, 268; at 
the St. Cloud fair, 268 ; his foreign 
policy defeated, 269 ; his constitu- 
tional changes in 1867.. 269, 270; 
studies the housing of the working 
•classes, 270 ; receives many foreign 
royalties, 271-273; his intercourse 
with Bismarck, 273 ; hears of Maxi- 
milian's death, 273; his reception 
of Galliffet, 278 ; visits the dying 
Morny, 290; will not pay for Bil- 
lault's sins, 294 ; deprecates Prussian 
extortions, 298 ; his stables and hunt, 
301 et seq. ; his daily drives, 305, 
306 ; his horses and horsemanship, 
307, 308, 343 ; his interest in horses 
and racing, 309, 310 ; gives his bride 
fifty-two gowns, 311 ; his journeys 
and sojourns in the provinces and 
abroad, 327, 328 ; at St. Cloud, 328 
et seq. ; receives Charlotte of Mexico, 
331 et seq. ; his illness, 335-339, 343, 
345, 381, 393-395, 397; his life at 
Vichy and Plombieres, 339, 340; 
dances with a peasant girl, 340 ; his 
relations with his soldiers, 340 et seq. ; 
his visits to the camp of Chalons, 341 
etseq. ; at Biarritz, 354-356; alarmed 
for his wife and son, 357 ; hunts the 
stag, 362 ; views the curves, 363 ; at 
shooting parties, 365, 366 ; a doggy 
man, 371 ; his interest in a Nicara- 
guan canal, 371 ; is amused by 
Mellinet as an invalide, 374 ; his 
plans for the continuance of his 
dynasty, 381-383 ; schemes a coali- 
tion against Prussia, 383-385, 396, 
397; resents the first HohenzoUern 
candidature to the Spanish throne, 
385 ; inaugurates parliamentary rule, 
385, 386 ; his relations with Ollivier, 
386-388; his last plebiscitum, 391, 
392 ; consultation respecting his 
health, 393 tt seq. ; outbreak of war, 
396; leaves for Metz, 397; ill at 
Saarbriicken and Metz, 397, 398; 
advised not to return to Paris, 398, 
400, 401 ; deposed from command, 
398 ; quits Metz, 399 ; holds a con- 



ference at Chalons, 400 ; surrenders 
at Sedan, 401 

Napoleon (Jerome), Prince, 27, 60, 61, 
65, 66, 68, 87, 116, 210, 212, 213, 
215-217, 220-234,236, 246, 245, 256, 
293, 339, 366, 367, 391, 394, 400 

Narvaez, Ml., 37 

Nefftzer, journalist, 223 

Ne'laton, Dr., 54, 345, 378, 893, 395 

Nelidoff, Mile de, 260 

Nero, Emperor's dog, 371 

Neufchatel principality, 280, 281 

Newspapers financed by the Emperor, 
153 ; by Prince Napoleon, 223 

Ney, Duke d' Elchingen, 48 

Ney, Edgar, ^'ee Moskowa ; Egle', 
see Persigny. 

Nicaraguan canal and the Emperor 
361, 371 

Nicholas, Czar, See Russia. 

Niel, ML, 46, 270, 274, 345, 351, 352, 
383 ; his widow, 352 

Nieuwerkerke, Count de, 39, 201, 236, 
361, 373 

Nilsson, Christine, 234 

Nigra, Chevalier, afterwards Count, 88, 
225. 366, 367, 406, 407, 408 

Nobility, families of the old, 149 ; pro- 
posed new, 149 

Noir, Victor, 241, 242, 390 

Novels, Emperor's projected, 152 



Odilon-Baukot. See Barrot. 

Ollivier, Emile, 27, 184, '232, 386 et 
seq., 392, 393, 395, 396, 398 ; Mme., 
390 ; ministry formed by, 388, 389, 
398 

Opera, Paris, 39, 101, 112 et seq. 

Ope'ra Comique, Paris, 103, 105 

Oppenheim, Major, 42 

Orange, Prince of, 271 

Orderly officers to Emperor, 48 et seq. 

Orleanist deputies in the Legislative 
Body, 386, 389, 405, 406 

Orleans, Gaston, Duke of, 328 ; 
" Egalite," Duke of, 227 ; Ferdinand, 
Duke of, 25, 26, 61 ; Helfene, his 
wife, 32 ; family property, 28, 36 ; 
princes' petition in 1870, 392 

Ornano, Gen. Count d', 27, 346 ; Count 
Rodolphe d', 43, 45 

Orphanage, Eugene Napoleon, 69 

Orsay, Count d', 183 

Orsi, Count d', 104, 150, 151, 183 

Orsini and his plot. 111 et seq. 

Orx, Count d', 184 

Osborne, imperial visit to, 313 

Oudinot, Gen., 25 



426 



LNDEX 



Padoue, Duke de, 297 
Pageant of all the lands, 261 
Pagerie. See Tascher. 
Pajol, Gen. Count, 46, 54 
Palace Police, 120 et seq., 127 
Palais Eoyal, 200, 215, 227 et seg_. 
Palikao, Cousin - Montauban, Gen. 

Count de, 48, 352, 398, 403, 404 
Palmerston and the crinoline, 313 
Paris, Archbishop of, 52, 68, 108 

Count de, 2, 32, 94, 393, 405 
, improvements in, 132, 296, 297 

life in, 267 et sect., 271, 310, 321 

et seq. ; Queen Victoria in, 84 et seg 

revolution in, 398, 403 et seq. ; siege 

of, 280, 399, 408 
Parisani, March., 213 
Parliamentary rule, 385, 386 
Partridges, Algerian, 365 
Pasteur, 370 

Paterson, Elizabeth, 215 et seq. 
Patrizzi, Card., 97 et seq. 
Patti, Adelina, 51, 258, 323 
Pearl, Cora, 227, 230, 323 
Peasantry and Emperor, 340 
Peel, Sir Eobert, 25 
Pelicans as fishers, 366 
Pelissier, ML, Duke de Malakoff, 31, 

346 et seq. ; Mme., 106, 352, 406 
Pepoli-Murats, 212, 213 
Performances at Compiegne, 373 

et seq. 
Persigny, Fialin, Duke de, 11, 33, 34, 

36, 57, 148, 150, 151, 176, 182, 294, 

361, 386 ; Duchess de, n^e Ney de la 

Moskowa, 34, 160, 253, 259 
Peyrat, M., 223 
Pianori's attempt on Emperor, 104 

et seq. 
Piennes, Marq. de, 74, 75 
Pierrebourg, Baroness de, 253 
Pierres, Baron de, 67, 71, 304, 308; 

Baroness de, n^e Thorne, 71, 309, 361 
Pierri on Orsini affair, 115 
Pie'tri, Prefects of Police, 28, 104, 147, 

402; Franceschini, 130, 139, 143, 

251, 397, 398 
Pinard, E., minister, 295, 296 
Pius IX., Pope, 91, 93, 94, 97, 99, 133, 

171, 206, 334 
Phaetons, Emperor's, 168, 305 
Pleasantries, 365 
Physicians to the Crown, 54 
Plate at the Tuileries, 246 et seq. 
Plombieres, 203, 225, 337, 339, 340 
Plebiscitum of 1852,. .16; of 1870..% 

391, 392 
Plon, Henri, 37 
Plots against Emperor, 100 et seq. 



Poilly, Baron H. de, 318, 361, 364; 

Baroness de, 318 
Police of the Palace, 120 et seq., 127 
PoUet, Mme., Empress's head-maid, 

164, 166, 251 
Pompeian house. Prince Napoleon's 

230 
Poniatowski, Princes, 144, 289 
Pons de Wagner, Mme. de, 73 
Poole, tailor, 15 
Pope. See Pius. 
Popelin, Claudius, 236, 237 
Porcelain and glass at Tuileries, 247 
Portugal, Dom Luis I., King of, 273 ; 

Maria Pia, Queen of, 272 
Posse, Prince Arved, 239 
Posting service, imperial, 304 
Pourtales, account of family, 280 : 
Count Edmond de, 280-282 ; Coun- 
tess Melanie de, 280 et seq., 375; 
fine art collection, 281 
Prefects of Police. See Pietri. 

of the Palace, 41, 137, 138, 252 

Pre'vost, v., Cent-Garde, 124 et seq. 
Primoli, Countess, n^e Bonaparte, 210, 

211, 213, 245 
Prince Consort of Grt. Britain, 80, 83, 

84,87 
Prince Imperial. See Imperial. 
Princess Koyal of Grt. Britain, 83 
Privy Purse, expenses of the, 134, 148, 

149, 150, 151, 153, 212, 302 
Protocole, chief of the, 45 
Prussia, William I., King of, later 
German Emperor, 272, 273, 366, 372, 
396 ; Frederick, Crown Prince, later 
Emperor, 272. See also Wars. 

Quadrille d'honneur at Court, 256 
Quartermasters of the Household, 41, 

42 
Queen's hair, 317 
Queretaro, execution at, 273, 334 

Kachel, the tragedienne, 179, 226 
Eaimbeaux, equerry, 51, 272 
Eandon, Ml. Count, 261, 270, 297, 346, 

351 
Easponi, Countess, n^e Murat, 212, 

213 
Eattazzi, Mme., n^e Bonaparte- Wyse, 

213, 214, 292 
Eavignan, Father de, 53 
Eayneval, Countess de, 98, 167 
Eeaders, Empress's, 73, 74 
Eeceptions at Tuileries, 253, 320, 398, 

399 
Becreations at Court, 265, 373 
Eedorte, Countess de la, 352 



INDEX 



427 



Eeffye, Gen. de, 48 

Eegencies, Empress's, 84, 170, 171, 

337 397 
Kegent diamond, 67, 97, 166, 255 
Eeille, Gen. Count, 47 
Eegnault de St. Jean d'Angely, Ml., 

346, 351, 352 
Eepublic proclaimed, 406, 407 
Eeverdy, chief huntsman, 358, 359 
Eevolution of 1870, 400 et seq. 
Ehine frontier of France, 341, 382 
Eichard, Maurice, 395 
Eicord, Dr., 54, 290, 339, 393, 395 
Eiencourt, Count de, 43 
Eigault de Genouilly, Adml., 270, 389 
Eimmel, E., 147 
Eimsky-Korsakoff, Mme., 261 
Eistori, Mme., 107, 113 
Eoccagiovine, March., n^e Bonaparte, 

210, 211, 213, 245 
Eochefort, Henri, Marq. de Lu9ay, 

218, 219, 241, 339 
Eoche-Lambert, Marq. de la, 72, 355 
Eoguet, Gen. Count, 45, 114 
Eolin, Gen., 41, 127, 251 
Eome, King of, 2, 54, 92, 93; and 
France, 35, 88, 106, 171 et seq., 206, 
207, 269, 383 
Eoquette. See Forcade. 
Eose. See Golden. 

Eothschild, Baron James de, 281, 322, 
367; Baron Alphonse de, 280; 
Baroness Alphonse de, 253, 259 
Eouher, Eugene, 28, 34, 147, 176, 270, 
294, 295, 367, 386-390, 400, 404; 
his wife, 295 
Eouland, minister, 367 
Eousselle, Dr., of the Commune, 409 
Eoyalties in Paris in 1867... 271 et seq. 
Eudio, with Orsini, 115 
Eue, M. de la, 52, 363, 368 
Euspoli, Prince, 211 ; Countess, 213 
Eussia, Emperors of, Alexander II., 
29, 272, 273, 288; Nicholas, 236, 
288 
Eute. See Eattazzi. 

Saoaley, M., 143, 150 

Sandeau, Jules, 371 

Saint Arnaud, Leroy de, Ml, 17, 18, 

28, 29 et seq., 32, 50, 58, 65, 147, 155 

et seq., 345 
Cloud, 16, 85, 188, 201, 268, 328 

Gratien, 234, 236 

Hubert's Day, 361 

Jean d'Angely. See Eegnault. 

, de Luz, Empress's adven- 
ture off, 357 



Saint Napoleon's day, 53, 267-269 

Vallier, M. de, 382 

Sainte-Beuve, 169 

Salle des Mare'chaux, Salon d'ApoUon, 

etc. See TuUeries. 
Salzburg, 273, 328 
Sancy de Parabere, Countess de, 72, 

295 
Sandon scandal, 293 
Sandor, Count, 283 
Saulcy, M. de, 73 ; Mme. de, 73, 85, 

98, 174 
Savoy, annexation of, 46, 172 
Saxe-Cobourg, Duke of, 113 
Saxony, Kings of, 57, 272 
Scandalmonger expelled from Court, 

195 
Scandals, financial, 324; Sandon's, 

293 
Schleswig-Holstein. See Wars. 
Schmitz, Gen., 48, 400 
Schneider Eugene, President of Legis- 
lative Body, 214, 292, 293 

Hortense, 73, 272, 314 

Schwalbach, Empress at, 339 
Scientists of the period, 326 
Scotland, Empress visits, 174, 175 
Second Empire founded, 13, 16 et seq. ; 

overthrown, 403 et seq. 
Secretary, Empress's, 76 
Secret Societies, 102 
Sedan, 54, 80, 279, 308, 400, 401, 403 
See, Dr., 54, 393-395 
Seillieres, Baron, 281 
Se'iour. Victor, 142 
Senate, the, 16, 60, 61, 93, 388, 390, 

391 
Servants, watch on palace, 121, 127 
Sesto. See Morny. 
Sevres. See Porcelain. 
Shaw, Miss, nurse, 91, 377 
Shooting grounds and parties, 365 et 

seq. 
Sibour, Archbp., 68, 108 
Simonel, director of Cabinet noir, 147, 

148 
Slidell, Miss, 262 

Solms, Count, 299 ; Mme. de. See Eat- 
tazzi. 
Spain, Queen Christina of, 62; Isa- 
bella II. of, 99, 385; Francis of 
Assisi, King-consort of, 331, 385 ; 
HohenzoUern candidatures to the 
throne of, 385, 393, 395 
Squibs on Eouher, 388, 389 
Stables, the imperial, 300 et seq. 
Stackelberg, Count, 299 
Stage, the, of the period, 325 
Stephanoni, March., 213 



428 



INDEX 



stockings, fashions in, 318 

Stoffel, Col., 48 

Strasburg affair, the, 33, 181 

Stuart, Lord Dudley Coutts, 239 ; his 

son, 239, 240 
Succession to the throne, the, 61, 210, 

391 
Suchet, Ml., 352 
Suez Canal, 170, 230, 371, 387 
Suisses at the Tuileries, 44, 255, 305 
Surgeons to the Crown, 54 
Surtout de table, the great, 246 
Sweden, Kings of, 57, 97, 273 ; Queen 

of, 93, 94 
Sweetmeats, Emperor's, 196, 197 
Switzerland, Emperor ill in, 336 

Table service at the Tuileries, 249, 

et seq. 
Tannhauser in Paris, 283 
Tarente, Macdonald, Duke de, 43, 150, 

151 
Tascher de la Pagerie, Count, 57, 67, 

74, 75; Count Charles [Duke de 

Waldburg], 67, 74, 75, 81, 260; 

Countess Stephanie, 75, 259, 260, 

281 
Tattini, Countess, 213 
Texier, E., 223 
Thayer, Mme., 363 
Theatre fran9ai8. See Comedie. 
Theft in the Emperor's room, alleged, 

155 
Thelin C, keeper of Privy Purse, 134, 

139 144 153 
Thiers, A.,' 140, 147, 403, 410 
Thomas, Ambroise, 371 
Clement, 147, 413; Victor, his 

nephew, 413 
Thorne, Mr., American, 71 
Thouvenel, minister, 288, 297 
Tibaldi plot, 108, et seq. 
Tirmache, Mgr., 52, 108 
Titles, queer Spanish, 149 
Toilettes, Empress's, 67, 97, 163 et seq. 

311,360; seven a day. 317 
Tournelles palace, 1, 2 
Toulongeon, Marq. de, 52, 81, 185, 

358, 365 
Trains, court, 320 
Trelawny, C, 192 
Tre'zel, Gen., 25 
Trimm, Timothee, 146, 322 
Trochu, Gen., 31, 48, 352, 399, 400, 

401, 403 
Tropmann, 326, 386 
Troplong, M., 57, 388 
Troubetskoi, Princess Lise, 260, 261 ; 

Princess Sophie. See Morny. 



Trousseau, Dr., 290 

Truncheon, Emperor's, 145 

Tuileries Palace, the, its early history 
and architects, 1 et seq. ; an unlucky 
palace, 2 ; occupied by Napoleon III., 
6, 7, 15 et seq. ; Second Empire pro- 
claimed there, 17, 18 ; is redecorated, 
18 et seq. ; visited by Queen Victoria, 
87 ; Imperial Prince born there, 91 
et seq. ; Miss Howard there, 188 ; at 
the time of the Eevolution of 1870, 
402, 404 et seq. ; its fate, 408 et seq. ; 
See Balls, Dinners, Keceptions, etc. 

, rooms in : Emperor's apart- 
ments, 129 et seq. ; Empress's apart- 
ments, 135, 158 et seq. ; Galerie de 
Diane, 21, 138, 257, 409; Galerie 
de la Paix, 18, 256, 257 ; Salle des 
Mare'chaux, 5, 19, 66, 116, 255, 256 
257, 409,412 ; Salle des Travees, 18 
135, 267 ; Salle du Trone, 20, 255 
Salon d'Apollon, 19, 136, 255, 257 
Salon Blanc, 19 ; Salon Bleu, 159 
Salons Louis XIV., etc., 3, 20-22 
138, 255 ; Salons Marie Therese, 21 ; 
Salon de Mars, 21 ; Salon du Pre- 
mier Consul, 255, 257 ; Salon Eose, 
159 ; Salon des Tapisseries, 21, 136 ; 
Salon Vert, 159 

Tullibardine, Marq. of, 372 

Turkey, Sultans of, 272, 273 

Turr, Mme., 213 

Unipokms, insignia, and liveries of the 
Imperial Household, 42, 44, 74, 75, 
121, 122, 158, 255, 257, 305, 309, 360, 
361 

Ushers of the palace, 43, 44, 135, 158, 
249, 255 

Vaillant, Count, Great Marshal, 39 
et seq., 53, 73, 81, 85, 346, 352 

Valabregue, M. de, 51, 104 

Valdegamas, Marq. de, 68 

Valentini, Mme., 213 

Valets, the Emperor's, 133, 134 

Varaigne-Dubourg, Baron, 41 

Veillard, M., 9 

Velocipede, the, 326 

Vergeot, Alexandrine, 184 

Verger, Abbe', 68, 108 

Verly, Col. Baron, 49, 124, 246 

Versailles, Bp. of, 68 ; Queen Victoria 
at, 86 

Vicence, Caulaincourt, Duke de, 300, 
361 

Vichy, 203, 278, 337-340 

Victoria, Queen. See Great Britain. 

Vidocq, 144 



INDEX 



429 



Viel Castel, Count H. de, 170, 193, 194 

Vignon, Claude, 150, 151 

Villa Eugenie. See Biarritz. 

Villefermoy, 230 

Villegiatura, the Court's, 326 et seq. 

Villeneuve, Marq. de, 244 ; March, de, 

nee Bonapa;rte, 244 
Villeneuve-l'Etang, chateau, 36, 69 
Viollet-le-Duc, 132, 371 
Viry de Cohendier, Baroness de, 73 



Wagbam, Berthiee, Prince de, 300, 
301 

Waldburg, Duke de, 260 ; Duchess de, 
281 

Waldor, Melanie, 150, 151 

Waldteufel, 256 

Wales, Prince of [Edward VII.], 83, 
272, 363, 372 

Walewska, Marie Lonczynska, Coun- 
tess, 27, 45; Alexandrine Eicci, 
Countess, 70, 154, 160, 179, 197, 253, 
292 

Walewski, Alexandre Florian, Count, 
27, 56, 57, 179, 185, 214, 225, 256, 
261, 26 283 , 292, 297, 349, 387 ; 
Antoine Jean, 179 ; Captain Andre, 
179 

Wallace, Sir E., 280, 281 

Walsh, Visct., 43 

Wardrobe, Empress's, 163, 165, 166, 
311 



War ministers of the Empire, 345, 346 
Wars of the period, referred to : China, 
48; Crimean, 32, 46, 78, 79, 96; 
Italian (1859), 35, 46, 48, 143, 171 ; 
Two Sicilies, 172; Schleswig-Hol- 
stein, 269; Mexican, 29, 146, 148, 
206, 269, 277-279, 331, 332 et seq., 
349, 350; Austro-Prussian (1866), 
35, 269, 294, 295, 298, 338 ; Franco- 
German (1870-71), 279, 299, 351, 
378, 379, 382-385, 393, 395-408. 
See also Sedan; and Chronological 
List, ante, pp. xi. and xii. 
Wasa, Princess Carola, 57 
Washburne, Mr., 299 
Washerwomen's Fete, 267, 268 
Waterloo, memory of, 79, 80, 85, 86 
Wedding, the imperial, 65 et seq. 
Werle', Count A., 364 ; M. (senior), 137 
Werther, Baron, 299 
Werwoort, first usher, 135 
Wines consumed at Tuileries, 137 
Winterhalter's portrait of Empress, 130 
Workmen's dwellings, 270 
Worth, battle of, 378, 379, 398 
Worth, Mr., costumier, 268, 284, 311- 

313 
Wurtemberg, Catherine of, wife of 

Jerome Bonaparte, 217, 219, 220 
Wurtz, Prof., 370 
Wyse, Sir T., 212; Lady, 212, 213 

Zouaves, the, 344 



THE END 



PUINTED BT WILLIAM CLOWES AND BONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. 



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